Embrace Eternity
by Glyph-04
Summary: A story focusing on life after the Reaper war for Kate Shepard and Liara T'Soni, Embrace Eternity covers the birth of their first child, and Liara's growing obsession with extending Shepard's lifespan. Love will make people do some strange things, even go behind each other's backs. Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Fluff, Drama, and Action all included at no additional charge.
1. Arrival

**Post Extended Cut update:**

**Well, the EC doesn't really impact much of what I've written so far. This story could probably be considered to have occurred after the events of the EC destroy ending with only a few minor contradictions. I'm not going to change anything to bring it in line, however. If you're willing to ignore a few minor things here and there in this story you can easily "headcanon" your way into concordance with the EC. EDI has a small part in a few paragraphs, but you could just as easily imagine her role going to some other character. You might want to set the events of this story forward a few more years too, to account for an optimistic repairing of the Relays. But, hey, this is fan fiction, use your imagination! Going forward, I won't write in anything else that contradicts anything seen in the EC destroy ending.**

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**Author's Note:**

**This is the first piece of fiction I've ever written, so I hope that you will bear with me through any rough spots. Feedback is appreciated.**

**This is a fanfic set in the Mass Effect universe, after the events of Mass Effect 3, which focuses on the relationship between FemShep(Paragon, Spacer, War Hero, Kate Shepard) and Liara T'Soni. It's a bit of an AU, as I have chosen to imagine a happier conclusion for the couple. The war was ended by the crucible, however, The Mass Relays, EDI, and the Geth were not destroyed. The galaxy still suffered heavy losses (something I'll go into more detail about in later chapters) and there were personal losses for Shepard and Liara too. I should also note that I am writing this before the Extended Cut that Bioware has announced, so I have no idea what that will entail either or how it might contradict anything I've written here.**

**I don't know much about the fan fiction community, but I believe that this work could safely be filed under the category, "Fluff." That said, I think that these first few chapters are not entirely representative of the whole, in that they are considerably more "fluffy" than the rest. I've broken the rule that states that an author should open up with an action packed beginning to grab your attention. Oh well, I'm new to this. In any case, expect there to be a higher action to fluff ratio later in the story when Liara and Shepard begin to independently work on their own separate projects to try to extend the human lifespan, and end up undermining each other's progress. I would encourage anybody who might be bored with these first few chapters to stay tuned until after Liara's delivery (Chapter 6), where the pace picks up.**

**I also want to note that I borrowed the word "damis" from a FemShep/Liara fanfic called "Unity" written by Awska. You can find that here: fanfiction dot net /s/8078346/1/Mass_Effect_4_Unity**

**The author describes damis as being little furry animals that live in trees in some of Thessia's warmer climates... and taste like chicken.**

**Thanks for reading.**

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**Disclaimer:**

**Bioware owns the rights to the Mass Effect universe and characters... I just took them out for a spin in my imagination mobile (No offers of free candy were involved; I promise.). Also, since this takes place after the events of ME3, it contains spoilers for the entire series (O RLY?). Consider yourself duly warned.**

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**Chapter 01: Arrival**

"Your bondmate is insane," Aethyta finally said to Liara.

The two of them were standing in the front yard watching Shepard, who had just landed the skycar on the small parking space in the front yard, prepare to take off yet again for another trip. This would be the third trip from the T'Soni estate to the local hospital that she had made, intent on memorizing every landmark on the rout, so that she could fly the skycar on instinct should the need arise.

"You won't even be going to the hospital in the first place," Aethyta continued.

"Shepard just likes to be well prepared," Liara said flatly. "Human pregnancies are fraught with considerably more danger than asari pregnancies, so she's nervous."

Aethyta muttered something about a "bag of dicks" which Liara chose to ignore.

Shepard did, in fact, like to be prepared. It was one of the traits that had no doubt kept her alive during the war with the Reapers. But now, in peace time, the former commander's driven personality had found a new outlet, her pregnant wife. When they had decided to conceive Shepard had loaded her datapad full of every book she could find on asari pregnancy, the developmental rates of asari children, and the cultural practices surrounding the birth. In the few short decades that humans had been part of galactic society a voluminous catalog of books had been written for human bondmates seeking to understand what child rearing with their asari partner would mean. Shepard must have read nearly all of them.

"She doesn't even have a license to operate that thing on Thessia," Aethyta complained.

They had returned to Thessia to have the birth at the traditional temple where Liara, and generations of T'Sonis, had been born. Had she not been the most famous member of the T'Soni family she probably would have considered simply having the child in the human fashion. She had never had any problem adopting her bondmate's customs, and even enjoyed learning about them, but certain things were expected of the daughter of a Matriarch, and she was probably the most famous daughter of a Matriarch on all of Thessia after the Reaper war. Snubbing the T'Soni family would be perceived as snubbing all of Thessia, and there was really no good reason to needlessly engender such hostility. For better or for worse, she and her bondmate were political figures now; her mother would have been pleased at least.

"She's still technically a Spectre. She doesn't need a license. Not that she could get one anyway," Liara admitted.

Shepard flicked a few switches on the dashboard and the skycar ascended above the T'Soni estate. Liara and Aethyta watched as it took off in the direction of the hospital.

"If she keeps acting this nervous, Kalina won't allow her into the birthing chamber," Aethyta said.

"I'll find some way to calm her down," Liara said with a hint of exasperation.

But rather than devise ways to calm her devoted wife and bondmate, Liara's mind searched out what she knew of Matriarch Kalina instead. Her work as the Shadow Broker had left her with an extensive knowledge of many of galaxy's most important figures, but it was her investigation into her own father's background that drew a potentiality useful connection in her mind now.

"You know Matriarch Kalina?" She asked, though not _really_ asking.

"I used to know her, back in her matron days... she was wild back then, like a maiden... such a damn prude now though. Shame with that amazing rack and ass."

"Do you think you could discretely make your opinion of my bondmate known to her, when she arrives tomorrow?"

_Emphasis on the word 'discreetly_,' Liara thought to herself.

"Don't know if it will do much good, but sure, I'll put in a good word. Your bondmate may be crazy, but at least she's crazy about you... She's actually a pretty good catch," Aethyta confessed. "How did you get her so smitten with you in the first place?" Aethyta began to smile a wicked smile, her mind mulling over the possibilities. "Did ya..."

"I simply told her I thought she was fascinating," Liara quickly blurted out, heading off whatever embarrassing remark her father had been about to make. "And she told me she found me intriguing as well."

Aethyta burst out laughing, "Oh to be young... Well, don't worry, you'll get practice at luring them in with your other assets someday. You'll have the next one eating out of your hand just as devotedly as this one, once they get a good look at those..."

"Father!" Liara exclaimed, irritated. "First off, I do not have Shepard eating out of my hand..."

Liara trailed off.

"And second?" Aethyta asked, sensing her daughter's hesitation.

Liara glanced down at her feat. "Second, it's inappropriate to talk about about some hypothetical future lover while my bondmate is alive and well and faithfully doting over her pregnant wife."

The matriarch sensed the apprehension present in Liara's voice.

"Hey, don't tell me you haven't had the lifespan talk with her," she said with concern.

"I've had the lifespan talk," Liara responded impatiently.

Aethyta sighed. "The first one is always the hardest, kid. But you'll get used to it. You're too young to appreciate how long life really is. Someday you're gonna be _Matriarch_ Liara and you'll look back at her fondly as the just the first of many lovers."

Liara tensed up and turned away from the matriarch. "I don't want to think about it really," she declared matter-of-factly and started up the crushed stone path that led toward the back of the house.

"Hey," Aethyta called after her, trying to rectify the reaction her words had spurred in her daughter. "You know you'll always have your little girl to remind you of her."

Liara stopped and rested her hands on her extended belly, conscious of the tiny life stirring within. "You're right," she said finally, turning back to the matriarch and forcing a smile for her sake.

"She's young in any case. How long do they live for anyway?" The matriarch asked closing the distance between them.

"The average human lifespan is around 120 years but a healthy lifestyle can increase that by..."

"That long!" the matriarch exclaimed. "I once dated a salarian. He didn't make it much past 45. I swear it was like he was here, then the next day he was gone. He was a horny little toad though. Wouldn't expect that from a salarian, right? But he would do this thing with his tongue where he..."

"I'm not sure I want to hear about this."

The two started up the path together.

* * *

Shepard had just set the skycar down in the hospital parking lot, convinced that she had the route thoroughly memorized, when her omnitool signaled that she had an incoming call, real-time over the extranet.

"Garrus! To what do I owe the pleasure?" she exclaimed, answering the call.

"Do I really need to give you a reason? I thought you'd just be happy to see my handsome face."

"Hmm... well, maybe before you tried to use it as a blast shield against that rocket... I might have."

"Fair enough. You and the missus have arrived on Thessia without trouble, I take it?"

"Worried about us, Garrus?" Shepard replied, mockingly.

"Me? No," the turian lied. "I'm confident that you can handle anything that life throws at you. It was Tali, really, who asked me to check in on you. She just wanted to make sure that you and Liara had arrived with no complications."

"We arrived this morning and got Liara settled in just fine."

"Good, good," Garrus replied.

"You're not going to believe this estate her mother left her," Shepard said.

"About that, do you know when you'll be needing us for the interview?"

"Not yet; I should find out tomorrow."

"What does this interview entail anyway?" he asked.

"Apparently, it's some kind of way for the attending matriarch to determine if I'm worthy enough to be present at my own daughter's birth," Shepard responded, irritated by the thought.

"They doubt _your_ worthiness?"

"I know, crazy, right? But I guess 'worthiness' isn't the right word. She's going to be assessing my character. Although, what she'll be looking for is a mystery to me. I'll contact you tomorrow, when I have more details..." She paused and amended, "we both really appreciate what you're doing for us."

"Please, Shepard. Don't get all sentimental on me now that you're going to be a mo... uh... dad. It's the least we can do."

"Well you know, they say that parenthood changes people like that."

"Knowing you, you'll end up changing parenthood instead."

"I might just have a go at that," Shepard joked. "Well look, I better be heading back to the estate, before Liara starts worrying that I've crashed the skycar."

"I'm surprised she even let you out in that thing."

"I think I traumatized her permanently, what with the Mako, and that time on Illium."

"Don't forget that time on the citadel, you know, when you actually stepped out of the vehicle and left her in charge of the controls."

"Right, I forgot that one," Shepard said, rubbing the back of her neck.

"That poor woman." Garrus shook his head in mock disapproval.

"Alright, well, I'll call you tomorrow, after the meeting with Kalina."

"Take care," Garrus said, disconnecting the call.

_Take care?_ Shepard thought, rolling her eyes. _He's treating me like I'm the pregnant one._ And at that thought she chuckled, as she brought the skycar off of the parking surface and pointed it back toward the T'Soni estate.

* * *

Liara, Shepard, and Aethyta were seated for dinner at the small circular table in the kitchen of the T'Soni estate. Liara had kept up with the estate's management in the years since her mother's death by scheduling regular cleaning, maintenance, and gardening, as well as by hiring a security guard to watch over the property, all of which was made possible by the money left to her by her mother. She hadn't, however, returned to her childhood home even once during this time, and the matriarch's beautiful house had stood pristine but relatively empty.

Soon, however, the house would be busy again. Asari customs dictated that two younger T'Sonis accompany her into the birthing chamber, and come to live with her in the weeks before the birth. She had already selected two of her cousins for this role, Natana and little Wythea, and, on top of them, Shepard's character witnesses would be joining the swelling ranks of residents in the once quite home. And then, of course, there was her father too. Liara had made Aethyta promise to keep talk of any sexual innuendo absent from the dinner table this evening.

"You two come up with a name for my granddaughter yet?" Aethyta asked, as the three of them chewed on the sauteed stalks and damis which comprised the majority of the meal that Shepard had brought home from the Serrice takeout restaurant.

"Not yet," Liara admitted, somewhat embarrassed. "But we have decided on a last name. We're going to go with T'Soni."

"What the hell else would you call her?" Aethyta asked incredulously.

"We discussed 'Shepard,' or a hyphenation, as is more common in human traditions, but we decided that might bring her unwanted attention. An asari with 'Shepard' in her name would be easily identified as being our daughter."

"I see," Aethyta said, clearly unamused that they had even considered such an idea.

The three of them returned to chewing their stalks in silence until Aethyta spoke up once again.

"I'm glad that you agreed with Liara's decision to have the birth here," she said, turning toward Shepard. "You being the big hero of Earth and everything, I imagine that your own people will be... disappointed," Aethyta said, laying emphasis on the word disappointed.

"Well, there is no human custom about where a birth should take place," Shepard explained patiently. "And the only people who will be upset by it already hate me for marrying your daughter and taking her as my bondmate anyway."

"You deal with a lot of those assholes?"

"Not a lot, Matriarch," Shepard responded trying to stay polite.

"Please, don't call me that."

A mischievous grin spread across the human's face. "In human tradition a spouse is encouraged to refer to her father in law as her 'dad.'"

"Don't push your luck," Aethyta chuckled, before Liara's foot found her ankle. "Well, I guess there wouldn't be any harm in it," she amended, casting a sore look at her daughter. "Liara is always going on about the importance of cross species cultural..." She waved her hand around in the air, searching for the words. "...whatever."

Liara's brow knit as she watched her father's careless arm waving.

"I was merely trying to explain to you why it only makes sense for Kate and I to share in each other's customs, in the same way that we share our bond," Liara tried to explain.

"She really is her mother's child..." Aethyta continued as if Liara hadn't spoken. "I was always saying that asari ought to learn to stand alone, but Nezzy was the diplomat."

"You need to be able to stand on your own, but having strong allies will only make you stronger," Shepard added.

"Yeah, I guess you proved that," Aethyta sighed. "Shame what happened here in the meantime though."

"FATHER!" Liara screamed, bringing her palm down on the table.

Both Shepard and Aethyta turned to her. Liara's eyes narrowed as she appraised her father's visage.

"Have you been drinking?" Liara finally asked, after a pause.

"Just the traditional Armali wine. It's not every day your daughter comes home to visit from such a distance."

"Goddess." Liara put her hand to her forehead in exasperation. "How many?"

"Three or four. Look, a good bartender doesn't drink when she's on the job... so she has to find the time to enjoy herself when she's off work."

Liara put her elbows on the table and set her head in her hands. "Are you a bartender or a spy for the asari government?" Liara asked exasperated.

"Can't it be both? You don't drink on either job, anyway."

Shepard put her hand on her wife's lap. "Your dad's just happy to have you home," she said, trying to defuse the situation.

"It's tradition," Aethyta added. "One we should introduce your bondmate to, in the name of cross species..." She trailed off, getting up from her chair and walking over to the bar.

"I'm sorry," Liara whispered.

"It's not that bad," Shepard said, putting on a smile. "She's not really that out of character anyway."

Liara managed a small laugh at that as Aethyta returned with three glasses of wine.

"We Armali asari drink this wine in celebration of homecomings," Aethyta said to Shepard, as she set the wine down in front of her.

"You're from Serrice, Father," Liara complained.

"But this is Armali," she declared, sitting down. "And you and Nezzy are from here."

"When in Rome," Shepard said, raising the glass of purple liquid to her lips.

"Where?" Aethyta asked.

"It's a human metropolis, once the political center of a powerful empire, and then a world religion," Liara began to explain, before she noticed her father's apparent boredom at her exposition of history.

Liara was just grateful that the rest of the dinner passed without incident, and, at the end of the meal, Shepard offered to clear the table. Returning from the kitchen to collect more of the dinnerware, she found that, although Liara had left the table, Aethyta was still seated in front of her plate, staring into the dark liquid of Liara's untouched wine.

"Kate," she said, addressing Shepard by her first name, her voice unusually soft. "I wanted to thank you for what you said about Benezia during that Battle Space interview... the one after the war." Shepard got the impression that that last glass of wine had loosened her tongue a bit, and brought out a more tender side of the usually course matriarch. "It changed a lot minds here on Thessia. Hell, the whole galaxy was tuned in to hear your story."

"I believe it broke records," Shepard admitted.

"Yeah well, you really set the record straight."

"I just spoke the truth."

"You did more than that. You went out of your way to make her sympathetic... That Allers bitch, she tried to paint Nezzy as an unsympathetic villainess, an obstacle in the path of the great Commander Shepard's triumphant march to victory. But you turned the tables on her, talked about who Nezzy was... as a person. 'She liked to wear yellow,'" Aethyta said, quoting a line from Shepard's interview. "How the hell did you know that?"

"Liara told me... she misses her."

Aethyta's eyes began to water. "You're OK, kid," she said, and then added, "Liara has a good head on her shoulders. I should have known she'd pick a good mate."

"Thanks..." Shepard responded sincerely, her lips curling into a devious smile before she added, "Dad."

Liara smiled to herself as the sound of her bondmate and father's uproarious laughter reached her from the kitchen, and she closed the data feed on her omnitool. Kate would be angry if she knew that she was still keeping tabs on the Shadow Broker network while she was pregnant. Tomorrow she would meet with Matriarch Kalina to begin the process that would decide if Kate would be allowed to be present with her during her delivery in the birthing chamber. It would undoubtedly be a stressful day. But right now, she felt fully at peace despite herself. She was tired, and full, and the sound of her wife and father's laughter in the distance made for a kind of soothing music. She decided to close her eyes for only a minute or two, but, before she knew it, she was in Kate's arms, being carried back to the bedroom.

"Hey," she said sleepily to her bondmate, as Shepard lay her down on the bed.

"Hey yourself," Shepard responded, turning toward the dresser and beginning to undress.

Liara sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"I'm not sleeping in this," she declared, getting up and joining her bondmate at the dresser.

Putting her arms over Shepard's shoulders she whispered in her ear. "I didn't realize how much of an effect coming back here would have on me."

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking about her all day. Everything here has something that reminds me of her."

Shepard turned around and put her arms around Liara's waist, Liara's extended belly pressing firmly into her own.

"You feeling OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine, really, but I was thinking... I know that I originally rejected 'Benezia' as a name."

"Having second thoughts?"

"I guess so. What do you think?" Liara asked.

"I'm the one who suggested it in the first place."

"We could name her 'Hannah' too," Liara enthusiastically added.

Shepard's mother had not been among the lucky survivors of the battle of earth, her memorial service, and the memorial service for the Orizaba, were one of the many dark spots that accompanied Liara's memories of postwar Earth. She was glad to be away, really. Glad to not have to look at the squalor that so many of Shepard's people now lived in. Thessia had been hit hard too, but not for nearly as long. And the population had been forced into surrender quickly. A lot of people had been killed, but much more of the infrastructure was intact. The sad truth was that this made things much easier for the survivors on Thessia, compared to the plight of Earth or Palaven, where the battle had raged for so long.

"I told you, she needs an asari name. She's going to live for a thousand years, and I don't want her to get stuck with a name like 'Matriarch Jane.'"

Liara laughed at that.

"Besides, I think it would make your father very happy," Shepard said.

"Dad?" Liara asked.

"She's a bigger softy than you realize."

"I don't know about that."

"She just keeps it well hidden," Shepard said confidently.

"Very," Liara agreed. "I don't think anything gentle has ever come out of her."

"Well, she had a hand in making you, didn't she?"

"Flatterer," Liara teased.

"And she gave you the name 'little wing,'" Shepard added after a little thought.

Liara pulled her arms tighter and cupped the back of Shepard's head, pulling her into a long, passionate kiss.

"You're right," she said, when she finally released the human.

Shepard felt some movement transfer from her wife's swollen belly to her own.

"Hey, what was that?" She said, bending down to place her face against her wife's stomach.

"I guess little Nezzy likes her name too," Liara said.

She kept her head pressed against her wife's belly for several minutes, but the baby didn't stir again.

Liara initiated a gentle meld and Shepard could feel the simple, untroubled mind of little Nezzy, wrapped comfortably in darkness and warmth. Liara's mind was present too, and she could feel her wife positively beaming with pride and love at the two of them.

"Come on," Shepard said, standing up and facing Liara when the meld had ended. "Let's go to bed. We've got a big day tomorrow."


	2. Preperations

**Author's note:**

**The idea of asari being unfamiliar with the human habit of pouring milk on cereal comes from this Liara/FemShep fic by N.Q. Wilder: fanfiction dot net /s/6883994/1/All_Things_Pass**

**Credit where it's due.**

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**Chapter 02: Preparations**

Shepard and Liara were seated at the same table where they had eaten the Serrice takeout food Shepard had brought back to the barren home the previous night. Determining that there was only enough leftovers for a single pregnant asari, Shepard had heaped last night's dinner onto Liara's plate, and retrieved two travel sized boxes of Warlord Garok's Krogalicious brand "krogflakes," which she had packed for the journey to Thessia, out of her duffel bag to serve as her own breakfast. They were seated across from each other, both reading on their datapads and eating, when Aethyta walked into the room.

"Don't you want some real food?" Liara said, glancing at Shepard's cereal.

Shepard just gave her "that look," the one that said, "you should really know better."

Liara returned the disproving glare for a moment, staring over her datapad, before breaking into a smile.

"Be careful with this human predilection for spoiling your pregnant wife... I might just start to get used to it."

"You, enjoying relaxation? Don't get my hopes up. This is the only excuse I'm ever going to get to drag you away from your work. Besides, Garok's Krogflakes come with real marshmallow headplates... they're Krogalicious!" she said enthusiastically.

Liara laughed, and Aethyta rolled her eyes at the couple behind their backs, as she turned to open the refrigeration unit, finding it all but empty inside.

"I don't suppose you have any milk," Shepard asked, looking over at Aethyta.

Aethyta closed the door of the refrigeration unit and turned around with an incredulous look on her face.

"None for you, sweetheart," she said with sass.

"My father is confused," Liara quickly explained, looking up from her datapad. She turned toward her father. "Humans continue to drink milk throughout their lives. From domesticated animals that is."

"That sounds disgusting," Aethyta said.

Liara scowled at her father.

"Well, there's a pretty big human food store in the off-world district. I'm sure you could find some there, if you really crave this ah... beverage," Aethyta offered.

"No, it's fine. I just wanted to pour some on this cereal," Shepard responded.

"On your cereal... right. Of course." Aethyta shook her head and walked out of the room.

Shepard went back to reading her datapad while she munched her dry cereal.

"Hey," she exclaimed. "There's an article about us on the ANN... Hero of earth set to become mom. I guess that should read 'dad,' shouldn't it? The Alliance Public Information Office today confirmed rumors that former Alliance Commander and Spectre Kate Shepard and her wife Dr. Liara T'Soni have arrived on Thessia in preparation for the impending birth of their daughter by the asari Dr. Liara T'Soni. Alliance Admiral Steven Hackett made the announcement late Monday to a crowded press room, extending both formal congratulations on behalf of the Alliance, and and personal congratulations on his own behalf to the couple. That's sweet of him. The couple share a celebrity status across much of Citadel Space. News of their wedding last year made front page headlines across the galaxy, and spurred impromptu celebrations on Thessia, and complaints from some human centric groups. Terra Firma spokesman Peter Yeger called the couple's Monday departure for Thessia, 'Further evidence that Kate Shepard has abandoned her human heritage,' and encouraged Earth's youth to 'stay true to the customs of their parents...' Oh, please..."

She tossed the datapad to the far side of the table.

"Terra Firma is very unpopular now," Liara said flatly.

"Then why do they even bother publishing this crap?" Shepard complained.

"The illusion of balance," Liara said. "It is the Alliance's news outlet after all. I bet the rest of the article goes on to praise your contribution to the war."

"Yeah, leaving out yours again, no doubt," Shepard replied bitterly.

"My work is necessarily more classified... and less glamorous."

"Not really fair, is it?" she said with sympathy.

"I'll manage," Liara responded, the expression on her face making it clear that she didn't care at all about it.

Shepard decided to change the subject. "We need to pick up some food sometime today, before the kids arrive... preferably asari. I don't want to gross your dad out again with any of my disgusting human habits."

"She's made of pretty strong stuff; she mated with a hanar after all. I'm sure she can handle it,' Liara said.

"Just wait till she finds one of my hairs lying around."

Liara giggled.

"I'm asari, and I rather like your hair," she said, scooting her chair around the circumference of the table, and running her hand through the mess of Kate's bedhead.

"You know, I think you just have a human fetish. That's why you couldn't keep your hands off my ears the other night," Shepard teased her.

"You have to admit, they are pretty cute," she said playfully, pinching one between her fingers.

"Big, floppy disks sticking out of my head?"

"That's what makes them so adorable," she said, pulling the top of Kate's ear down and letting it pop back into place.

"Well I guess that's OK, as long as you let me indulge in my perverted crest fetish," she joked, leaning in and planting a slow gentle kiss on the back of one of Liara's fringes.

Aethyta walked back into the kitchen, munching on the end of a long, brown stick of seasoned Thessian grains.

"You two _really are_ newlybonded," she said, as Shepard quickly removed her face from the back of Liara's neck. "You think you can tear yourselves away from each other long enough to get yourselves made up all nice for Kalina?"

Aethyta pulled a jar of some kind of spread out of one of the cupboards and dipped her grain stick in the sweet jam.

"I suppose, if its for a good cause," Shepard joked.

Aethyta smiled. "By the way, If you've got a thing for crests, try running your tongue down one of her seams next time, and see how she reacts."

Shepard's eyes widened slightly, and while she was trying to think of something to say, Aethyta ran her hand atop her own crest, pointing out exactly where she meant, and gave Shepard a wink before walking back out of the kitchen.

"Father!" Liara scolded, shouting after her. But she was already gone.

After a short pause Shepard turned toward Liara and asked, "how would you react to that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she said, planting a short kiss on Kate's forehead and getting up from the table.

* * *

Liara and Shepard were seated, side by side, in the formal greeting space of the T'Soni estate, surrounded by the elegant curves and graceful arches of the beautiful greeting room, which were so typical of asari architecture. Seated across from them was the Matriarch Kalina, dressed in her unusual robe and headdress.

She was a priestess of sorts, the birthing ritual was quasi religious, but that didn't stop Shepard from feeling an uneasy dislike for the woman. This being was sizing her up, after all. Deciding whether or not she would be present for the birth of her own daughter, and what was worse, she had no idea what the matriarch was really looking for in her. She only knew that the matriarch was supposed to make her decision in the interest of what would be best for Liara, and best for her daughter, during the birth. But what did that mean, really? Maddeningly, there was no checklist that she could consult in any of the books she had read, no guide to follow. It all seemed to come down to the personal intuition of the attending matriarch, a woman hundreds and hundreds of years older than even humanity's first contact with other species.

"You are unusually young," The matriarch began by stating disapprovingly.

_She's young_, Shepard thought to herself. _What about me?_

"Time waits for no one, Matriarch," Liara responded politely.

The matriarch cast an accusatory stare at Shepard. The message was clear enough; you, your lifespan is responsible for this maiden's decision to have such an early pregnancy. Shepard fought hard to resist the urge to return the disapproval in the matriarch's stare. Finally, the matriarch turned back toward Liara.

"It is, of course, your choice to make, child," she said.

"Thank you, Matriarch. I am as confident in my choice now, as I was the night we conceived," Liara said with all the formal grace of a matriarch's daughter.

"And what of your bondmate? Does she wish to be considered for inclusion in the the birthing ritual?" The Matriarch asked, the question clearly directed at Liara.

"She does," Shepard interrupted.

The Matriarch ignored her.

"She does, Matriarch," Liara responded, glancing sidelong at Shepard.

"And you wish her to be present at the birth?"

"Absolutely."

"Then I will take her candidacy under consideration," the matriarch declared standing up.

She turned toward Shepard.

"We will being seeing each other again soon, for your testimonials. Your bondmate will explain everything you need to prepare," she said flatly, and promptly exited the room, the meeting over seemly before it had begun.

"Well, that didn't go very well," Shepard sighed.

"It went better than you think," Liara responded, tugging at Shepard's collar to straighten it. "It's her job to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Well it worked. I can't stand the idea that that woman has the power to separate me from my own child's birth."

"It won't happen," Liara said reassuringly. "Come on, we need to round up your character witnesses."

"Garrus and Tali are already on board, and Wrex committed last night, while you were sleeping."

"There's one more person I want you to contact," Liara replied with a knowing smile.

* * *

"I am honored that you would ask me to be one of your witnesses." The Justicar's face flickered momentarily on the viewscreen. "But I am curious; you have many close friends, why choose me?"

"Actually, it was Liara's suggestion, but I can't think of anyone else who could represent me to the matriarch as well as you."

"Your bondmate is wise, Shepard. The matriarch will assess your character based on the character of those you have chosen to be your witnesses. With me, however, she will know that I am bound to speak the truth by the code. She can be confident that she is getting an honest opinion, no mater the question asked."

"Is that a good thing?"

"With you, I believe, yes. My order carries an aura of deep respect in asari culture. We are bared from giving our personal opinions on maters of politics or state, however, our opinions on personal maters are often highly respected, especially among traditionalists like Kalina. It is fortunate that I am currently between cases. This affords me an opportunity to repay you for..." She paused. "...the kindness you have shown me."

"How is Falere doing, anyway?" Shepard asked.

"She is well. She has transferred to another monastery. I visited her once. She has had _few_ problems settling in."

"You should go and visit with her again, if you have some free time."

"I never have free time, Shepard. Being a justicar is full time commitment."

"Still, there must be some way to interpret your code that would allow you to see her," she protested.

"I can see that you are unchanged from the person I know," Samara said, smiling as much as she ever allowed herself to. "But there is no ambiguity in the code."

"There's ambiguity in everything, if you look hard enough."

"I believe you have just expressed one of the central tenants of your philosophy."

"Well, don't expect me to write a treatise about it; I'm no matriarch," Shepard said.

"But you have your own kind of wisdom, nonetheless. It works for you... but not for me."

"I'll forward the travel arrangements to you," Shepard said solemnly.

"I look forward to seeing you again, in person," the justicar said.

But before she could terminate the call Shepard added, "Maybe the next time you swear an oath to me, I can order you spend more time with your daughter."

"That would be a most pleasant arrangement. Would that the universe would conspire to allow such things to be."

"Good bye, Samara."

"Shepard."

Liara stepped out from behind the viewscreen when the call was ended.

"I believe I was the first person to tell you that you shared the wisdom of a matriarch," she said.

"Her code pisses me off sometimes."

"It is a dangerous type of fatalism," Liara agreed. "Dangerous to more than just herself."

"What do you mean?"

"Just bear in mind that, if she knew that I was the Shadow Broker, she would be compelled to try to kill me."

"It wouldn't be the first time I've seen her try to commit suicide with her code..." She sighed. "When are Natana and Wythea due to arrive?"

"Within the hour," Liara said.

* * *

Standing in the front yard, and gazing up at the descending skycar that had ferried her cousins from the carport station to the T'Soni residence, Liara spoke softly to Shepard.

"Natana's parents are both asari," Liara said as the skycar set down in front of the house, "however, Wythea's mother died during the war. Her father barely survived the fighting on Palaven."

"He's turian I take it," Shepard responded.

"Yes, but he lives here on Thessia now. He specifically asked me not to bring up her mother in front of her... It's only been a year and a half..."

"I understand..." Shepard said, squeezing her wife's hand.

Shepard watched, as the two young asari got out of the skycar. Wythea would have been about nine, if she were a human, and Natana resembled a young teenager, more like fifteen in human terms.

Natana went to retrieve her travel bag from the backseat, while Wythea ran up to the couple, holding a wilting flower.

"I picked this for you," the young asari said, handing the flower to Shepard.

"Why thank you, sweetheart," Shepard responded, giving the little girl a hug.

The young girl's eyes stayed glued to Shepard.

Liara leaned in and whispered, "I think someone has a crush on you."

The little girl turned to Liara, and placed both her hands on her stomach, bowing deeply in the traditional greeting reserved only for great heroes of the Asari Republics.

"Why thank you very much, Wythea. You do me too much honor."

"You think that crush might stem from a little hero worship of you?" Shepard whispered back to Liara.

Natana walked up to the couple and put her travel bag down, slipping a piece of paper she was carrying through the handle, so that it wouldn't blow away. She bowed in the same manner as Wythea.

"Thank you, Natana, but again, I don't deserve such honor."

"It is nice to finally meet you, da'antana," she said with a formal stiffness.

"You don't have to use the formal greeting with me. Just call me Liara."

The young girl smiled. "My parents made me practice that line," she confessed, relaxing noticeably at Liara's invitation.

"Commander Shepard," she said, turning toward Kate and extending her hand in the human greeting.

"I'm not a commander anymore, so you can call me Kate, or Shepard if you like; everybody else does," she said, shaking the girl's hand.

"All of my friends are jealous that I get to meet you two," Natana said, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.

"Well, you can tell all your friends that we're nothing special then," Shepard said.

"They'd never believe it," Natana said. "Liara is one of the most famous people on Thessia, and you're one of the most famous aliens... my friend, Ralla, even has a picture of the two of you on her bedroom wall, from the cover of Bracelet."

"It's a publication that focuses on bonding ceremonies," Liara explained.

"You were on the cover when you were bonded," Natana added. "Ralla printed it off and hung it on her wall, above her bed."

Shepard rubbed the back of her neck, uncomfortable with the idea.

"Shouldn't girls your age have pictures of pop stars hanging in their bedrooms instead?" Shepard asked.

"Ralla is a bit of a political science dork, and she's pretty infatuated with your bond. She made me bring a photo of you two kissing, for you to sign... If that's OK that is."

"Of course, but first," Shepard said, changing the subject, "lets get you two settled in, shall we?"

She walked up to the skycar and pulled out Wythea's travel bag. After paying the driver, she turned around to find Wythea standing next to her bag."

"That looks heavy. Would you like me to carry that for you?" she asked.

Wythea smiled and shook her head. "Please."

Shepard slipped the flower that she had been carrying behind her ear and bent down to pick up the travel bag. Wythea grabbed her free hand and Shepard escorted her into the house. Liara smiled at her as they passed.

Natana picked up her travel bag, pulling the piece of paper out of the handle, and made to follow Shepard into the house.

"What is that you're holding, Natana?" Liara asked, stopping the young asari.

"Oh, this? Someone was handing them out at the station," she said, giving the pamphlet to Liara.

Liara's brow knit as she examined the flier. It was a tract for Thessia First, an asari superiority group even less popular than Terra Firma.

"Lets go in," she finally said, when she had read her fill of the ridiculous nonsense, ripping the pamphlet in half and stuffing it's remains in her pocket.


	3. The Interview

**Author's note:**

**I'm not really satisfied with this chapter. It seems like it has a lot of fluff with very little foreshadowing. This chapter feels like a bit of a holding pattern. There will be much more drama in the next two chapters... and then the little blue babies! D'aww! Following that, we'll be well on our way into the meat of the story.**

**"The Three Seashells" is a reference to the Stallone/Snipes action sci-fi movie Demolition Man. I recommend it if you like the sound of campy sci-fi laughs set in the near future, even if it did turn out that 1996 contained a lot more AOL disks than cryogenic freezing of prisoners!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 03: The Interview**

The young girl cocked her head at the whirring sound coming out of the bedroom.

"What's she doing in there?" Wythea asked Liara.

"She's drying her hair. Human hair will stay wet for a long time if it isn't dried, like clothing," Liara explained.

"How does something like that even evolve in the first place?" Natana said. "You'd think it would be a problem if you got that wet every time it rained."

The three of them were waiting for Shepard to finish up getting dressed, and join them for a walk to the park.

"Hey, did you know humans also have hair somewhere else?" Natana said to Wythea.

Liara looked down at the two girls and frowned. "And just how do you know this?"

"It's covered in basic reproduction," Natana said, sounding somewhat proud of her knowledge.

Liara realized that humans hadn't made first contact with citadel species when she had taken basic reproduction at Natana's age. It could still be shocking sometimes to realize just how young Kate really was. _Natana is older than he_r, she thought. _She's closer to Wythia's age_. Despite being told again and again from birth that other species' lives were so short, it was something that you could only believe intellectually until you experienced these other species for yourself. Having spent most of her life among asari, her first extended contact with humans had been a fascinating experience, with one particular human being especially fascinating.

"I've seen pictures on the extranet of human women that didn't have fur anywhere else," Wythia said.

Liara decided to ignore this. It wasn't her place to judge the parenting style of Wythea's father.

"That's because some of them shave it off!" Natana explained excitedly.

"Does Shepard have any fur there?" Wythea asked.

"That's none of your business, Wythea," Liara responded curtly.

The young girl seemed disappointed, until Natana reminded her that she would have a change to see for herself soon enough.

"So, Liara," The older girl prompted, after a lull in the conversation. "What are humans like, really?" she asked, seeming to be genuinely curious. "I mean... not just your human, but in general."

Liara sighed. "First, Shepard is not _my_ human. Second, they're all different. Just like asari. They're all individuals," she said in a tone that felt like she was giving a lecture.

"I know, I just mean... every salarian is an individual too... and every krogan... but you can say some things about them in general right?"

"I'm not sure I like the tone of where this is going... But at their best, humans can be adventurous, ambitious, and determined" she said, putting a positive spin on it. "They pushed hard for a seat on the council and they got it in just 25 years."

"You make them sound pretty romantic. Are you sure you're not just describing your Shepard?" Natana said, teasing Liara.

"Humans are pretty cute," Wythea blurted out. "They look a lot like asari."

"The females do," Natana agreed.

"Even the males. Except when they have fur on their face," the younger one giggled, and then added, "I'm going to bond with someone like Shepard when I grow up."

Aethyta passed by the group on her way to the kitchen, winking at little Wythea. "Good choice," she said in passing.

Liara didn't even bother to chide her, but just silently shook her head.

"You'd have better luck going after a human male," Natana said.

"Why?" Wythea asked indignantly.

"Well, you remember how I said that the females look more like us than the males?" Natana said patiently.

"Yeah?"

"Well the human males like the way females look... that's just how sexually segregated species work. So they like the way we look too," Natana said, clearly pleased to be teaching Wythea everything she had learned in basic reproduction.

"But they don't look THAT different," the younger one protested. "Is that true?" she asked, looking up at Liara.

"I'm afraid so," Liara sighed.

Little Wythia crossed her arms and huffed, thoroughly convinced that humans were much sillier than previously described.

"But Shepard is a female," she finally blurted out, confident that she had found a hole in their arguments.

"It's complicated little one," Liara said as Shepard finally emerged from the bedroom. "Ready to go to the park?" Liara asked, enthusiastically.

"Let's go," Shepard said.

~.~.~.~

"Why are we going to this park anyway?" Natana asked, as the five women strolled down the path that led from the T'Soni estate, through the public gardens, to the nearby park.

Aethyta led the way, holding onto Wythea's hand, while Liara, Shepard, and Natana followed behind with Shepard and Liara holding onto each other's waists.

"Because Kate wanted to see it, after I told her a story about a time when I visited it, when I was growing up here," Liara said.

"Awww, you're such a softy Kate," Aethyta teased Shepard, craning her head around to to see if her words had stirred any embarrassment in the former alliance soldier.

"Watch where your walking, Father," Liara chided.

Aethtya gave a tug on Wythea's arm.

"You would do well to get a loyal one like her. My daughter's got her eating out of her hands."

"Enough, Father," Liara said sternly. "I told you that Shepard isn't eating out of my hands."

"Maybe just a little," Shepard leaned over and whispered into her auditory folds.

She turned and planted a kiss on Shepard's lips at this.

"I suppose I'll have to reciprocate then," she whispered back. "Tonight, I'll eat out of your hands... or anywhere else you want," she added.

Mood swings didn't accompany asari pregnancies like they did in humans, something Shepard had been very pleased to read. In fact, the only change that could be expected was an increase in sexual desire in the last weeks before the birth. When she had first read about this happy fact, she had rushed into the bedroom, where Liara was busy browsing her omnitool on the bed, and read the passage out loud to her. "Did you know about this?" she had asked when she was done. "Of course," Liara had replied. The look that had spread across Shepard's face prompted Liara to throw one of the pillows at her. "Dirty girl!" she had teased, jumping off of the bed and chasing Shepard out of the room.

"Is it hot out here, or is it just me?" Shepard asked.

"I'm fine," Natana said, obliviously fiddling with a game on her omnitool as she strolled along.

"Only a few more weeks before that baby is due, huh Kate?" Aethyta asked, grinning ear to ear, apparently much less oblivious to Shepard's meaning.

Natana looked up from her game and glanced over at the couple, perhaps catching the innuendo.

"Indeed," was all Shepard could manage as Liara nuzzled her neck.

When nobody was looking, Natana surreptitiously took a photo of the couple's public display of affection with her omnitool.

_Ralla is going to love this,_ she thought.

~.~.~.~

"This is the spot," Liara said staring down at the unremarkable grassy patch beneath their feat.

"So, Doctor T'Soni," Shepard began, pretending to become very analytical. "In your professional opinion, what makes this site such a promising candidate for archeological excavations?"

Liara sat herself down on the ground, pulling on Shepard's arm until she joined her down in the grass.

"Let me show you," she said, as she initiated a meld, sharing the memories of her misadventures in the park and her mother's reaction.

When the meld was through, Shepard spoke, "That was even more cute than I had imagined."

Liara laid back and looked up at the sky.

"This park was a lot more beautiful before the war," she said, reminiscently.

There was, in fact, a large, unsightly crater, from God knows what, blasted in just about the dead center of the park. Grass had spread down the sides of the pit toward its stinky, muddy center where several water fowl were swimming and calling out to each other in their obnoxious honks.

"It will look just as good again, and you'll live to see it. You can take Benezia here and share this memory with her when it does," she said, laying back on the grass beside Liara.

"I will," Liara said, her eyes slightly watering.

She rolled onto her side and put her arms around Shepard, clinging to her as if she could keep her forever if she just held on tight enough.

After about a half hour spent laying together on the grass, Aethyta walked over to the couple and stared down at them.

"The first of your guests is due at the spaceport in an hour," she said.

"I guess we wouldn't want to keep Wrex waiting. If he gets too bored he might go back to Bakara," Shepard joked.

"I know I would," Aethtya said. "Krogan know how to mate. None of this cuddling on the grass with no action business."

"There will be plenty of _action_ tonight," Liara declared haughtily, getting up and walking back toward the spot where the two kids were sitting, but not before flashing Aethtya a look that said, "you _wish_ you were getting as much."

Shepard was more than a little stunned at Liara's openness, and the two them watched as Liara walked off.

"Hey, she really _is_ in the final weeks, isn't she?" Aethyta said, turning toward Shepard, a huge smile on her face.

"I guess so!" Shepard said still shocked, but getting up from the ground.

"Fun times," Aethyta said, sounding nostalgic.

Shepard looked over at her father in law uncomfortably.

"Ah, don't give me that look. I'd be pissed if you two were behaving like a couple of prudes," Aethyta said. "Your lifespan is way too short for that kind of crap. What do you know about sex with asari anyway?"

"Uh, only what Liara has shown me," Shepard replied reluctantly.

"The blind leading the blind," Aethtya sighed. "Here take this," she said, holding up her omnitool.

Shepard stared back at her.

"Don't worry, it's nothing kinky. But trust me, it will help."

Shepard accepted the data transfer to her omnitool.

"It's something I use to acquaint new mates with the finer points of pleasuring an asari. I'm pretty sure you'll like it."

"Thanks," Shepard responded unsure of the gift.

"If you do like it, just let me know. I have plenty more where that came from. Just about any kind of kink you two might be into."

"Lets just go greet our guests," Shepard groaned.

* * *

Shepard sat in the screening room of Matriarch Kalina's bureau, staring at the large viewscreen on the wall. An image of the matriarch, seated in her large chair in the center of the study, was displayed in high quality. It would certainly be an interesting experience to watch her witnesses perform their song and dance for the matriarch, none the wiser that she was observing them.

_I wonder if this how Liara feels?_ she thought. _No, probably not. She's probably used to the idea of seeing without being seen. I feel like a damn voyeur... Actually, she seemed to enjoy it from the get go, didn't she? Those files on the Normandy's crew that she produced were an invasion of their privacy to __say the least. I wonder what she has in my file?_

Shepards thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of Wrex into the frame of the viewscreen. The krogan seated himself before the matriarch.

"You are Urdnot Wrex, leader of the united krogen," the matriarch began.

"That's right," the burly krogan responded.

"And you've made the journey all the way from Tuchanka to testify on her behalf. She has powerful friends."

"Most warriors of her stature do."

"Is that the primary capacity in which you see her, as a warrior?"

The krogan narrowed his eyes and thought. This squishy asari probably didn't put the same value on Shepard's battle prowess that he did. What do these fragile asari like anyway?

"She's a diplomat too," he finally responded. "Got us to work together with the turians. People said that should have been impossible... and they were right. But Shepard doesn't know the meaning of the word. She makes the impossible happen."

"I understand that one of her command decisions during the war resulted in the total destruction of the famed Aralakh Company," the matriarch said, shifting topics. "How do you feel about her choice to preserve the Rachni queen at krogan expense?"

"Can't say it didn't piss me off. I was with her when she spared the Rachni Queen the first time. Didn't seem like a good idea at the time. But the Rachni helped with the construction of the crucible. We'd all be dead if it wasn't for her. Hell, on Tuchanka, her name means 'hero.' Nothing else needs to be said really."

"So what your saying is that your testimony may be biased by your feelings about her role in the Genophage's cure."

"What I'm saying is that Shepard is one of the wisest and strongest warriors I've ever known, and if your too stupid see that... you're lucky you weren't born on Tuchanka."

~.~.~.~

Wrex walked out of the matriarch's study, apparently unfazed by the discussion.

"How did it go?" Garrus asked.

"Too much talking," Wrex replied curtly, and took a seat on one of the sturdier looking pieces of furniture in the reception hall. "Matriarch's ready to see you in any case," he added.

Garrus strode into the study and took a seat in front of the matriarch's chair at her gesture.

"Garrus Vakarian, you served with the commander during the Reaper war. It seems as if all of the commander's witnesses are soldiers. Benezia was a peacemaker. Do you really think that Shepard is right for her daughter?"

Garrus's mandibles twitched. _Hell of a way to start off_, he thought. This interview was going to be much more aggressive than he had imagined. She sounded more a like lawyer on the attack than a matriarch. He steeled himself while preparing his response.

"With all due respect, Matriarch, Liara is quite the fighter too. Sometimes peace is something you have to fight for. And as for Shepard, 'peacemaker' is exactly the word I would use to describe her. She got the turians and krogan to work together, even ended the geth/quarian war."

"Yes, her decision to cure the Geneophage in a gambit to unite the turians and krogan is quite well known, and well discussed. My mother fought in the krogan rebellions; Shepard took quite a gamble with our future. Would you say that she is always so impulsive?"

"Impulsive? No. She always restrained me when I was being impulsive. She has a hell of an angry streak, don't get me wrong. But it's focused, narrow. It never lashes out at the wrong target."

"Yet over 300,000 are dead in the Bahak system."

"And billions more would be dead without the time she bought with their lives."

"But was that a purchase that she had any moral authority to make?"

"Who's to say? Look, if you want to know more about it, I'm not the one to ask; I wasn't there. But you should talk to Liara. She went running back to her after the whole thing was finished."

"Looking for comfort for her guilty conscience?"

"Maybe," the turian conceded. "But what kind of conscience would a person have to have to not feel guilty after something like that?"

~.~.~.~

Garrus left the room and approached Tali. "Be careful in there," he whispered to her. "She's really out for Shepard's blood."

Tali simply nodded and stepped into the matriarch's room.

"Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy. That's an interesting name."

The quarian sat down and crossed her arms, clearly unamused and in no mood to give the matriarch any ammunition against Shepard.

"I understand that you and the commander were both instrumental in the cessation of geth/quarian hostilities."

"That's right."

"And I understand that a geth platform designated 'Legion' was also instrumental."

"Correct." Tali's responses were short and to the point.

"If the commander's own account is reliable, it sounds as if she took a considerable risk with the quarian fleet as this 'Legion'..." She checked her notes. "ah... 'disseminated it's personality' to the rest of the geth."

The matriarch hadn't actually asked a question and Tali simply stared back at her.

"What made the commander feel that she could trust this thing?" the matriarch asked.

"She had worked with Legion before. She knew that he was trustworthy."

"You shared her opinion about it's trustworthiness then?"

"I just spent the last year out of this suit because the geth welcomed us back to Rannoch."

"That's in hindsight, of course. What was your opinion at the time?"

"You want to know? I was scared. The fate of my entire people hung in the balance."

"But you didn't try to stop it."

"No, I... I knew Legion as well as Shepard... Keelah, the first time I met him I had wanted to throw him out the airlock," she said, putting her hand on her face plate and looking down.

"But the commander had other plans?"

"She wanted to talk to it... him. Wanted to know why he had helped us."

"After so much time spent fighting geth, why do you think she was so eager to hear this one out?"

"I don't know really... It's just part of her personality. She doesn't treat people based on preconceptions. Neither geth or quarians."

~.~.~.~

"How was it?" Garrus asked as Tali exited the Matriarch's study.

"Good, I think," Tali responded. "I think I made a good impression on her."

"Well, at least one of us did," Garrus said jealously.

Samara was next.

"Matriarch," she said, seating herself in front of the matriarch's chair.

"Justicar," the Matriarch responded, bowing her head slightly. "What is your opinion of Kate Shepard's moral character?"

"Shepard has strong moral convictions, but she is not above using violence to protect the innocent. She is much like a justicar in this regard. Where she is not like a justicar, however, is in her lack of anything resembling a code. She determines right from wrong by intuition, not axiom."

"And if you were to put the code aside, how would judge her intuition, personally?"

"I would judge it to be sound," the justicar said.

"From my research into your interactions with Shepard, I believe she has met all three of your daughters."

"That is correct. She helped me track down and kill my daughter Morinth on Omega. She also saved Falere's life on Lesuss."

"What was her opinion about Ardat-Yakshi?"

"She seemed to be genuinely curious about the condition. I would place curiosity as one of her defining features. She asks many questions."

"How would you describe her relationship with Liara T'Soni?" the matriarch asked.

"I know very little about Liara, but everything that I have witnessed about Shepard's feelings for her speaks of a very deep love."

"That will be all. Thank you justicar."

When Samara had left the room Kalina turned to the monitor and spoke. "That will be the end of this meeting," she said. "You may join your witnesses in the reception hall."

Shepard rubbed her temples. She wasn't sure if that had gone well or not.

* * *

"How's the turian brandy?" Shepard asked.

"Very good. This is actually my favorite brand," Garrus said, hefting the bottle and turning it to reexamine the label.

"Do you have any induction ports?" Tali asked.

"There should be straws in the cabinet," Liara said.

The four of them were seated around the fully stocked bar in the game room of the T'Soni residence.

"Some scotch whiskey for me," Shepard said, pouring herself a glass. "And tupo berry juice for you," she said, producing a bottle of the fruit juice and handing it to Liara.

"How generous," Liara replied sarcastically.

Wrex walked into the room and looked around at the small party sitting around the bar.

"Wrex, where have you been? We've got some ryncol for you," Shepard said, dragging a green bottle across the bar toward herself.

"Where's the bathroom?" he asked.

"Just down the that hall. On your right," Liara directed.

Wrex walked off down the hall.

"You think he knows how to use the three seashells?" Shepard asked.

"Spirits, lets hope so," Garrus said.

"Hopefully he'll activate the VI assistant if he doesn't," Shepard said, laughing.

"I've heard rumors that the provisional government has granted you two a title to a piece property on Rannoch," Liara said.

"Yes, a nice piece of property, right by the ocean," Garrus said. "The same one Tali picked out during the war, in fact. Tali was the first quarian to receive a land grant by the provisional government's lottery. And what do you know," he said, sitting back in his stool and crossing his arms. "But it was that piece of land."

"An amazing coincidence," Liara said.

"Thank you, Liara. It means a lot to me... to us," Tali said.

"If you need any help procuring building supplies or contractors don't hesitate to ask," Liara said.

"Thanks, but you've already done more than enough," Tali said.

"Shepard!" Wrex shouted from down the hall.

"Wrex!" she shouted back.

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Be right there," she shouted, and then sighed. "I'll deal with this."

"Your a good woman, Shepard," Garrus said, as Shepard was getting up. "Liara, you're married to a saint."

"Laugh it up, Garrus," Shepard said, walking out of the room and down the hall toward the bathroom.

"Have you drawn up any floor plans for the house?" Liara asked. "I could put you in contact with a very skilled architect from Sur'Kesh. He would be more than willing to wave his usually exorbitant fees."

"You see that green button above the middle shell?" Shepard could be heard down the hall, yelling through the bathroom door. "Yeah. That's the VI assistant... Yeah... No... Yes... Well, I'm not coming in there and explaining it to you! Just use the damn VI... I don't know. I think it's an asari. Does it mater?"

The three of them were laughing.

"Look, it's not like she records anything... No, it's very basic, just a tutorial... I don't care what they do in the rest of the galaxy, they use the three shells here on Thessia... Well that's why there's a tutorial VI... No... Yes... Then just grow a quad and deal with it."

"You didn't blackmail this salarian, did you?" Garrus asked, when the shouting was through.

"No, of course not," Liara said. "The former Broker did that. He had tried to hire some of the Broker's agents to falsify his family's pedigree, a high crime in salarian space."

"I think the situation is under control," Shepard said, walking back into the room.

"Another disaster averted by the great Commander Shepard." Garrus said.

"I'm already fixing potty room disasters and my kid isn't even born yet," Shepard said.

"You always liked to get a head start on things," Liara joked.

Shepard sat back down at the bar.

"To absent friends," she said, raising her glass of scotch and looking around the bar.

"To absent friends," everyone agreed, taking a drink.

"It's good to spend some time together," Liara said, looking around at everybody. "No war, no reconstruction, just... friends."

"We should do this more often," Tali agreed.

"We'll come to Rannoch, when you have your grand house opening," Shepard said.

"We can sit by the beach and knock a few back," Garrus added.

"We did agree to that," Shepard said, nodding her head.

"Maybe we could have that salarian put in an elevator, all the way down to the beach," Garrus said.

"You've hired an architect?" Shepard asked.

"Not exactly," he said. "But we've heard of this guy who might be interested in working pro bono."

"In these times?" Shepard asked. "He must be a saint."

"Were just lucky to have such good friends," Tali said.

"I heard there's a glass of ryncol with my name on it out here," Wrex said, walking into the room from the bathroom hallway.

"Everything work out alright for you, Wrex?" Garrus asked. "It was sounding real touch and go for a minute there."

The krogan leveled one of his eyes on Garrus and stared at him before finally breaking into laughter.

"What is this dirty water your drinking, Shepard?" he asked, walking up to the bar. "Have some ryncol with me."

"No thanks, Wrex. That stuff is... green," Shepard said.

"I insist," he said, pouring a drink.

"No ryncol for her, bondmate's orders," Liara said.

"My hands are tied, Wrex." Shepard said, throwing up her arms in mock defeat. "You know how it is."

"All too well," he grumbled, knocking back the glass of ryncol in one gulp and twisting the empty glass around absentmindedly in his giant fingers. "All too well."


	4. 23 Brumala Part 1

**Chapter 04: 23 Brumala (Part 1)**

She was alone, in an unfamiliar place. A forest. She hadn't been in many forests. She had grown up on ships and space stations. Forests were something almost mystical to her, the stage where the fairytales her mother sometimes read to had a tendency to unfold. The first time she had been in a forest was during survival training, during basic. All of the other recruits had been in forests at one time or another before, the colonist kids, the earthers; she was the only spacer in her squad. And she remembered looking up at the canopy and down at the forest floor. It was filled with life, everywhere you looked, on every branch, under ever stone, something was going about the process of living in it's own unique way. But this forest was different. Much quieter. Ash blew into her face. This forest was almost dead.

She heard the child laughing as he ran by her. She turned to look at him, and to her horror, she saw that he was running in the same direction where a giant Reaper stood towering over the forest.

Bwuuuuwmmmbp!

The Reaper let out a terrible sound.

It was the kid from earth. The boy in the vent.

"Stop!" she shouted after him.

But he kept running toward the Reaper, oblivious to its presence.

"Stop!" she shouted again, preparing to give chase, but a finger of light erupted from the Reaper, destroying the boy.

She averted her eyes.

Her com channel crackled and then sprang to life.

"Nothing's happening. The crucible's not firing. It's gotta be something on your end."

"Hackett? What do you need me to do?" she said turning around and spotting the control console nestled into the forest floor.

All she had to do was activate the console. She could stop the Reapers, stop them from killing anymore. Earth, Palaven, Thessia, they were dieing, every second someone was dieing. And they were all counting on her to stop the killing. If she could only figure out these damn controls!

"You can't save them all. You can't even save her," Harbinger intoned, his words thundering around her as she fumbled futilely with the haptic interface.

"Shepard!" Liara cried out.

She turned from the control panel to see Liara running frantically away from the two kilometer Reaper, her white armor brown with mud, one of her tentacles half missing, gushing blood, stumbling over branches and roots, clawing her way up inclines, all in a desperate attempt to put some distance between her and the ancient horror towering over her small form.

"You resist inevitability. You will fail. You will fail her."

Should she stay at the console, try to decipher these damn controls? How long would it take her to figure them out? Would Liara have enough time?

"You are organic, an animal, imperfect. Your emotions are your weakness."

She couldn't think straight. Was she making any progress with these controls? How much longer would it take? Why couldn't she understand these controls?

"Shepard," Liara called out again with desperation. "Help me... please!"

Instinct took over and she turned and ran after Liara. She ran with all her strength.

She was almost upon Liara when part of her rational mind reasserted itself. _What do you hope to do? How are you going to protect her from this? You should have stayed at the console, activated the crucible! You could have saved her!_

Bwuuuuwmmmbp! Harbinger let out a roar.

Liara's terrified eyes were locked on Shepard, her arm outstretched. Almost there! She was almost there. A beam of red swept out from the black monstrosity dominating the sky overhead, instantaneously obliterating Liara, mercilessly wiping her from existence.

Shepard felt her knee buckle and give out as the full weight of her run came crashing down on her now useless legs. Momentum continued to carry her forward, but gravity altered her trajectory into a parabolic curve. She landed face down in the dirt of the forest floor, her hands not even making an attempt to brace her fall. It smelled like wet leaves, but nothing mattered anymore.

"You have failed. It was inevitable. Now you will join us."

She began to hear the whispers in her mind, telling her that nothing mattered. But it made sense, a terrible kind of sense. Liara's death had been an inevitability. Her own death was an inevitability. Nothing really mattered in the end. She was an organic. Death was an inevitability. She was defined by this failure. It was her nature. All her works were as dust before the slow tick of cosmic time. 50,000 years, tick. Another 50,000 years, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The very last of Liara's time capsules. Buried in the shale, mere meters from a newly dug mineshaft. The mining technician placed the final charge in the stone wall. 3... 2... 1... and it was gone. Nothing was left of either of them. The universe had erased Kate Shepard, and what was worse, it had erased Liara T'Soni.

So organic, so weak, imperfect. A failure. You couldn't save her. But there was another way, the voices assured her. Ascension! It didn't have to end. They could have a thousand lifetimes together, more. The Reapers had found a way to overcome entropy, they explained the joyous news to her. No beginning, no end.

"Join me, Kate," Liara said. She was standing inside a pod like the ones the collectors had used, her hand outstretched. Shepard reached for her hand and she pulled her into the pod with her. The door closed.

"A single lifetime doesn't cut it for me anymore, Liara," she said.

"Well, that sounds serious," Liara teased back.

"I am serious, Liara. I want to spend the rest of forever with you."

"Then your extremely lucky I feel that way too," she said, leaning in for a kiss. "Embrace eternity, Kate," Liara said, as the red liquid began to drip into the pod.

She awoke, but not with a start, not covered in sweat and trembling. She just awoke. That was the worst part these dreams. They started off as nightmares, but by the end she was at peace. She thought she was joining Liara for eternity. It was only after waking that the full horror of the dream became comprehensible.

Liara knew that Kate had bad dreams. It was impossible to hide something like that from her bondmate; she knew Shepard's mind, intimately. But Shepard had tried to shield her from as much of it as she could. She never told Liara about what happened in the dreams after the part where she fell, face down in the dirt.

"Harbinger keeps telling me that I will fail you," she had said to Liara one night during the war.

"You won't Kate," was Liara's brief but stern reply.

"You sound really adamant about that."

"There's no doubt in my mind."

And the dreams were getting less and less frequent as the days since she had last seen combat grew more and more numerous. Still, it wasn't something that she wished to burden Liara with.

She rolled over to see if Liara had noticed her stir, only to find that she wasn't there. Panic griped her. Was it time? Jumping out of bed she ran around the house frantically, checking the bathroom, checking the kitchen, Liara was nowhere to be found. Finally, she noticed the lights from the back porch shining in through the windows.

She opened the door and let out a sigh of relief as she saw Liara leaning against the railing of the porch, gazing up at the night sky.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" she asked gently, joining her bondmate at the elegant railing.

"I could ask you the same thing," Liara said, still gazing at the sky.

"Just a little heartburn," Shepard lied.

"Heart what?" Liara said, turning to face Shepard, the porch light now illuminating her previously back lit face.

"Acid reflux, its something humans get sometimes when we eat spicy food."

"Which we didn't do, and you've never complained about before... you're a terrible liar, Kate."

Shepard noticed how watery Liara's eyes were.

"Have you been crying? What's the mater?"

"I... had a bad dream too," she confessed.

Shepard embraced her. "You want to tell me about it?"

"You first."

"You've heard my dream before, there's nothing new. Tell me what _you_ dreamt"

Liara sighed. "You... you had activated the crucible..." she squeaked out. "and then... it exploded."

"That _did_ kind of happen," Shepard said regretfully.

"But in my dream you were dead. I was standing on Earth, and I could see the explosion. London wasn't covered in clouds for some reason. The fireball was bright in the sky. And that damn crucible had killed you. And I wished... I wished I had never found the designs for the thing. My discovery had killed you. I found it, I argued for it, I sent resources to it, helped organize its construction, and it had killed you."

She was tearing up again.

"That didn't happen Liara," Shepard said reassuringly.

"But it was close," Liara said, resting her forhead on Kate's shoulder and looking down at the floor of the porch.

"Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

"What?"

"Another human saying."

Liara laughed. "Your silly idioms always make me laugh," she said, looking up and managing a smile for her bondmate's behalf.

"Good, I've got a million more where that came from."

The two of them stood there, locked in their embrace for several minutes before Liara said, "Do you see where those three bright stars seem to form an equilateral triangle?" She pointed, directing Shepard's gaze along her finger. "Ancient asari used to believe that's where bondmates go when they die. That a bondmate would watch over her lover from up there, and they would be rejoined when the other passed... for eternity. In actuality they are three rather unremarkable stars, no habitable planets, a moderately profitable platinum mine in one of the systems..." She paused. "There might also be a small communications outpost for the Shadow Broker in one of those systems." She laughed again. "But that should probably stay a secret."

"My lips are sealed."

"I just wish..." her voice cracked. "Goddess, this sounds silly."

"What?" Shepard asked, trying to coax it out of her.

"I wish it were true," she confessed. "I wish you would go to Sha'rana, and watch over me until I could join you."

"What would you do for the next 800 years?" Shepard asked, in a tone that was trying to dissuade her from such an idea.

"I would wait," Liara said with conviction.

"Liara, that would break my heart. I can't bear the thought of you being lonely for all those years."

"But it _will_ happen. I could never get over you," she said under her breath.

"That's not a very asari thing say," Shepard objected.

"Then I make a terrible asari. Sha'rana was something most asari stopped believing in long before we met other species, but the platitude that we should 'celebrate the time we have with our bondmates' is a weak palliative in comparison. I don't know how you can even imagine me with someone else."

"It's something I signed up for when I fell in love with you. I knew what I was getting into. You _will_ love someone else one day."

"Never," she hissed under her breath.

"It may not seem like it now, but in a hundred years... you'll have had your fill of me. Take it from a human, that's a _long_ time be with someone. You'll know that we lived a good, long life together." Shepard began to rock her back and forth. "You're going meet somebody else who will sweep you off your feet. You'll fall in love again. And that person is going to love you, and they'll love our daughter, because she's yours... and you'll both make a new child, and our little girl will come to see her sister."

She was babbling.

"Kate stop," Liara said quietly, tears were streaming down her face.

"Liara, you have to come to terms with this," Shepard said sternly. "It tears me up too. I would change nature itself if knew how, but I can't do..."

Wrex's words from his testimony sprang through her mind, giving her pause.

_She makes the impossible happen._

"What?" Liara asked.

"I can't do the impossible," she admitted, and turned away from Liara.

More memories. Liara's words this time.

_If we're going to do this, I need to know that you're always coming back. _

And then,_ you won't fail me; there's no doubt in my mind._

"GOD DAMN IT!" Shepard screamed, bringing her fist down on the banister, splitting the wood with her cybernetically enhanced strength.

"Kate!" Liara shouted, shocked at her outburst. "Kate... I'm sorry."

"It's not you Liara... It's me. The idea of leaving you and Benezia at such a young age... it kills me Liara. If I could fix this with an assault rifle... make you fall in love with another asari... Ah what the hell am I saying? I'm talking goddamned nonsense."

Shepard walked off of the porch and started down the path into the gardens.

"I'm going for a walk," she declared, but stopped suddenly and turned around as her wife's emotional state took center stage in her mind.

"You want to come with me?" she asked sheepishly, worried now that her outburst had probably done little to assuage her wife's troubled mind.

Liara nodded silently and stepped off of the porch to join her.

The gardens were beautiful at night, and the two of them strolled in silence together past every kind of Thessian flower and bush, until they arrived in the center of the garden complex.

A stone structure similar to a gazebo stood at the center of the gardens, looking out over a pool with a fountain. Stopping just before the stone stairs that led up into the structure, Shepard bent over and examined the carefully manicured vines growing up the side.

The plant had thorns, but it was strangely beautiful anyway. Its main branch was about as thick as her wrist, and the thorns were comically large as well, and every few meters a thin offshoot capped with a red flower would erupt from the thick stem. The stem itself seemed to exemplify asari grace, the way it twisted and arched elegantly up the cold stone.

Convincing herself that the walk had calmed her down, Shepard let a out a sigh and looked around the starlit garden, taking in all the exotic and wonderful plants that filled the space around her; some of them reminded her a of a Dr. Seuss illustration in their seeming improbability.

"Your world is as beautiful as you are," she said, turning toward Liara.

"Your such a romantic," Liara teased, giving her lover a peck on the lips and guiding her up the steps into the gazebo.

The two of them sat together on the cold stone bench at the center of the gazebo, looking out over the shimmering reflection of the night sky in the fountain's water. Liara spoke first.

"I didn't mean to upset you back there, but I stand by what I said. I don't think I could bear to let you go again."

"Liara," Shepard began to protest, but the young asari cut her off.

"It's less hopeless than you think," she said, taking on an analytical yet excited tone. "We have a lot of money from the Shadow Broker account. Maybe we could contract some salarians, or binary helix, to work on human longevity. I could take another degree... in medicine... and..."

Someone cleared their throat. The couple turned to find Aethyta watching them.

"You two have got it bad," she finally said, shaking her head.

The matriarch walked over to where they were sitting and kissed Liara on the forehead.

"Why couldn't you just find yourself a series of flings, like most maidens?" she sighed.

"I've always taken the things I do quite seriously," Liara confessed.

"I'll say. You're downright obsessive, in fact. That's why you made such a good information broker. First the Protheans, then your revenge, the Reaper war, and now your bondmate's lifespan. I hope when that kid of yours comes you have the good sense to give it the room it needs to stretch it's wings."

Liara was taken aback by Aethyta's words, but Shepard spoke first.

"Your dad is right, Liara. You can't waste the time we have by letting this become an obsession."

"I don't know if I can," she confessed.

"Our child will be here soon. She's going to take up so much of our time and energy that we're going to think that we were _crazy_ for having her. You won't have the time to worry about this anymore."

"I suppose your right," she lied, putting on a smile to comfort her bondmate.

Shepard returned the smile, and moved quickly to steer the conversation away from her lifespan.

"What are you doing up, anyway?" she asked Aethyta.

"Well I _was_ sound asleep before you cracked that railing in half," Aethyta said.

"Deduced that that was me did you?"

"Lucky guess." Aethyta smiled.

"I hope I didn't wake up the whole house," Shepard said, embarrassed.

"Your turian friend was the only other person I saw awake. But he decided to leave you alone, after he figured out there was no real trouble."

"I'm sure he was disappointed."

"Come on, you kids need your rest. The big day could come any time now," Aethyta said, gesturing back toward the house.

Shepard smiled and then responded, "Yes Dad," in the tone of a petulant teenager.

"Goddess, help me," Aethyta grumbled as the couple walked past her and back to the house.

Once inside they started for the bedroom.

"I need to use the restroom, I'll be right back," Liara said, and turned off down the hallway, while Shepard continued on into the bedroom.

Once the bathroom door was firmly closed, she brought up her omnitool and began punching away at it until she had brought up the contact information of an old friend.

"EDI, I have a favor to ask of you," she spoke into the device.


	5. 23 Brumala Part 2

**Chapter 05: 23 Brumala (Part 2)**

While Shepard was alone in the bedroom she took the opportunity to begin composing an email.

To: Miranda Lawson

Subject: I need your help

She would send the message through the Shadow Broker's network, the one communication channel that she could be absolutely sure Liara and Feron weren't monitoring was their own... as long as the messages were digitally signed by Liara's private key that is. But she would need Liara's access information. She couldn't just ask Liara for it; she would want to know why she needed it. There was no way she would let Liara in on this plan. It was probably a hopeless scheme in the first place, and she would never allow Liara to get her hopes dashed.

_The next time we meld_, she thought.

She would have to find a way to get Liara to think about her job while they were melding. How the hell could she do that?

_Role playing!_

She would have to be cunning about this. It would be far easier for Liara to hide things from her than the other way around. Liara's mind could be so damned organized, compartmentalized. Her mind, by contrast, was a chaotic mess. How could she pull this off?

_This is what you get for bonding with a genius_, she thought. _Your not going to be able keep anything from her._

_OK, I'll be a spy, sent by... I don't know... Aria T'Loak lets say. Sent to infiltrate her Shadow Broker network. That way it won't look suspicious when I try to go poking around in her secrets. But she'll still figure it out when we've melded completely._

This amount of scheming was a headache. How did Liara deal with this kind of intrigue for a living?

_Right, she's a genius. OK, so, as a spy, I'll have to resist her attempts to get inside my mind. That's a convenient excuse to not fully meld... Christ, this is a harebrained scheme. I bet Liara's plans are a lot better thought out._

* * *

"I am intrigued by the nature of this call, Dr. T'Soni. What can I help you with?" EDI's orange visor stared back at Liara from the viewscreen on her omnitool.

"It's about Shepard... and me. As I'm sure your aware, running the Shadow Broker network takes a considerable portion of my attention."

"Managing a network that large is beyond the capabilities of most organic minds."

"Exactly, and well, with the baby due, I'm not going to have the time to manage the network as thoroughly as it deserves."

In truth she had already let the network rot more than she should have. Shepard had been insistent that she not overwork herself during the pregnancy, and she had reluctantly relented to temporally leave Feron in charge of the network when she saw how much it meant to her bondmate that she take it easy. But after fourteen months of pregnancy the thought of returning to the sleepless nights and stress filled days of an information broker, at the expense of time spent with her daughter, was no longer as appealing. And besides, there was only one thing that she really, truly wanted to accomplish with the network now. She would use its vast resources to find a way to extend Shepard's life.

"So, I was wondering... do you think that you could construct a VI that could help me manage the network? It would need to be more sophisticated than anything on the market today. I'm not asking for a true AI or anything, just something capable of making heuristic decisions in my extended absence. If you need compensation for you work, I can afford to pay."

"No compensation would be necessary. I would be happy to help," EDI replied.

"Thank you, EDI," Liara said, her face brightening. "Oh and one more thing... It needs to be safe."

"It should be theoretically possible for me to create a safe VI, provided that it has no self modifying code."

"Thank you again, EDI."

"My pleasure, Dr. T'Soni," she said, terminating the call.

"What was that all about?" Joker asked, entering room.

"I believe that I have found the perfect gift for Shepard and Liara's baby shower."

"Well that's good... I hate shopping for baby clothes anyway."

Liara was pleased with herself. She had set in motion a plan that would allow her to work on the problem of Shepard's lifespan without burdening her bondmate with worries that she would become obsessed again. If this VI worked as well she believed EDI was capable of making it, Shepard need never know what she was up to. The VI would allow her to spend far less time in her office, and far more time with Shepard and Benezia. Returning to the bedroom, Liara found Shepard lying in the bed.

"Kate," she said lying down next her wife. "I've been thinking... about not returning to the Shadow Broker's position."

Shepard rolled over to face her.

"Why? You love your job," she asked with concern.

"I love the challenge, the thrill of finding a new connection in dispirit pieces of data... but I can find that challenge in other work."

"What is this about, really?"

"It's what you said earlier. About how much time and attention our daughter will need. I don't want to be absent from her life. Is that selfish of me?"

"Is it selfish to want to be a good mother to your daughter? No," Shepard said with disbelief.

"Is it selfish to put my own happiness ahead of the rest of the galaxy's? To focus on just my own child when so many need so much. The network is indispensable to the reconstruction effort."

"No," Shepard said confidently. "That's motherhood Li, just the way God, or I guess, the Goddess intended it."

Liara laughed. "Are you saying that Athame has blessed our union?"

"She must have. I think it constitutes at least a minor miracle that we even found each other in this galaxy, let alone that we slew the dragons together and lived happily ever after. Hell, you even brought me back from the dead once."

"That was mostly Miranda's work."

"But your the heroin in that tale," Shepard said, and then clearing her throat she began, "Liara T'Soni's love for Kate Shepard was so strong that she refused to accept death itself, like any normal mortal would, and the gods, seeing the great lengths that she was willing to go through for even the smallest chance to see her love again, took pity on the beautiful maiden, and granted her her wish."

"But not before she was forced to make a deal with the devil," Liara added solemnly.

"I know I've told you this before, but I'm sorry I left you for those two years. I know how much I hurt you, I saw the reaction I caused in you and I'm so sorry. I consider it to be my greatest failure."

"And I've told you to stop apologizing," Liara said. "You came back, after all."

"The worst part of it was the way I found you when _I did_ come back. It wasn't that you couldn't put two years of mourning behind you overnight, that was to be expected. It wasn't that you were obsessed with rescuing Feron and taking revenge on the Shadow Broker... It was that you doubted yourself. You had made a lot of tough decisions and you acted like you thought I wouldn't love you if I got you back. Like if I got to know the real you, I would be horrified."

"I got people killed, Shepard," Liara said breathlessly.

"So have I. But you acted like your moral compass had been corrupted. Like you were scared of your own motivations. 'Is it wrong that part of me wants to be the Shadow Broker?' I believe you asked me. But as soon as you had control of the Broker's network you were talking about reforming it.

"But it's true... part of me did want the network for selfish reasons. It was like a dream job compared to what I had built on Illium.

"I know that, I know that you love your work. You need a job with work that's worthy of your amazing intellect. But there was nothing base or corrupt about what you did, Liara."

"My revenge had consumed me... in your absence... I..." Liara began to tear up.

"You dedicated yourself to rescuing a friend," Shepard said reassuringly.

"I didn't even know he was still alive at the time," she said, gaining some composure. "I dedicated myself to revenge. And got a lot of people killed. Did you ever read the causality report from the trade center bombing? And my hands are still bloody. The Shadow Broker's network doesn't operate without casualties."

"When we were on the Normandy, at the very end of the war. Do you remember the night you came up to my cabin. I was filled with self doubt. And you told me that the galaxy had someone who was worth following. That there was no doubt in your mind."

"Of course."

"Well I've gotten a lot of people killed too. I've ordered soldiers to their deaths. I've made tough decisions... Aralakh company, Admiral Koris's crew, Ashley. The ruthless calculus of war. They're all dead because I couldn't operate without causalities either. I'm fallible, just like you. If you believe that I'm somebody worth following... then why won't you believe it about yourself?" she said, tenderly.

"It's not the way I run the network now... now, I make those kinds of decisions you just described. I make mistakes, and people die, agents are found out, but I'm trying to help. It's that I'm not proud of a lot the things I did in the past, on Illium."

"And I'm not fucking proud of Bahak Liara! I'm a fucking mass murderer!" Shepard said, frustrated at Liara's self imposed guilt.

"You made the right decision Shepard... you bought us time," Liara replied.

"Listen to me, Liara T'Soni! Shepard shouted rolling on top of Liara, grabbing her head between her hands and looking deep into her eyes. You refuse to believe it, but you have one of the most accurate moral compasses I've ever encountered. I've used you as a standard to calibrate my own... on many occasions."

"This is somewhat problematic," Liara said, in an analytical tone. "I use you to calibrate my moral compass as well. Scientifically speaking, this is a very unsound methodology."

The two them laughed, the tension relieved for a moment.

"The difference is, Shepard," Liara continued, becoming serious again, "that you made all of your decisions to save lives. I made some of mine for my own revenge."

"You didn't know that people like Sekat would die when you embarked down the path you took," Shepard said, trying to reassure her.

"I didn't, your right, but you forgot what I told you... I said that I would do it again, I would get him killed again."

Liara stared up at Shepard, her face a study in calm compared the mask of pain on Shepard's.

"Then this is the one thing that I have ever found in you that I don't understand, Liara... everything you've ever done, before I died, and after you took control of the Shadow Broker's network, I understand. But I love you unconditionally, and completely, so I love this about you too," Shepard said, her voice admitting defeat.

Shepard's words seemed to hurt Liara.

"Kate," Liara said "I was lost without you... I did want revenge for Feron, it was a burning desire. But it's not the whole truth. The Shadow Broker, the yahg... he... tried to sell your body to the collectors."

"I know, you've told me."

"I had to make him pay for what he tried to do to you," she hissed through her teeth.

Shepard continued to gaze down at her.

"And then you were back, and you were really you, and not some Cerberus creation like I was terrified they might try to turn you into. And I had mourned you for two years, and you were back. But would you love me if you saw what I had become? Would you hate me for turning you over to Cerberus? And I was scared, scared to let you back into my heart, and risk being hurt again... but you had never really left my heart in the first place... but... I don't know, I was so confused, Kate. I still am... and so I just stayed wrapped up in the revenge I was seeking, because I was too scared to come back to you, and it was easy to do... there was so much momentum... _Two years_, Kate. I thought you were dead, lost to me forever for _two years_. And I acted like like you _were_ dead. I accepted that you _were_ dead. But there was this insane hope that that genetically engineered Cerberus zealot wasn't crazy, that she could really bring you back... but it seemed like such a delusional thing to hope for. And the Broker was the one thing that had tried to take that possibility away, so I focused on him."

She was crying.

"And then you were back." She laughed for a moment at those words before continuing to sob. "And I just kept going on, because what else could I do? If you saw the new me... you were always so moral, you would probably hate what I had become... so I just kept on being that person... until... until the Shadow Broker was dead, and there was no more revenge to hide behind, to get lost inside of... and I would have to face you... and I dreaded facing you. I needed a new mission... and I could use the network to help you... but before I could get lost in that pursuit... you confronted me... and I couldn't hide anymore... so I tried to warn you away. I told you that we were different people... but you just... you just loved me anyway. Your so damned stubborn."

"You've pursued your carrier as the Shadow Broker with your usual passion, but not the ruthlessness with which you pursued that revenge. If you became the Shadow Broker to get lost in a new mission, then what's so different?" Shepard asked.

"The difference is that I _didn't_ become the Shadow Broker to get lost in a new mission. You stopped that... I became the Shadow Broker to help you. I didn't have to run anymore... you were alive and you still loved me... the momentum of those two years was broken... and you still loved me... I still don't know why. Why did you continue to love someone who put her revenge above the lives of other people? Innocent people, Shepard. With families and loved ones and... and... pets," she spat out the last word.

Shepard paused and thought hard about that question before replying, "because, I'm stupid, and I just love you, and that's all there is to it. Love is just... blind, and irrational, that's just the way Athame made it, just like motherhood. And I will never stop loving you, no mater what happens, no mater what you do, who you get killed. You can't scare me off, because that's love. Now your not going to start questioning the wisdom of the Goddess's handiwork are you?"

"I'm a scientist. I question everything," Liara said, smiling through her tears.

"Blasphemer," Shepard said, kissing Liara and wiping the tears from her face. "But I'll love you even if you blaspheme my love."

When she had finished drying Liara's face she rolled off her and said, "Let me make a confession to you then. What do you think would have happened if it had been a choice between you and Kaidan on Virmire? You think I'm some kind of saint? What if _you_ had been the one to die, and I had tried to recover _your_ body. What do you think I would have done to somebody who stood in the way of that? Will you continue to love me if I told you that I actually took pleasure in killing Vasir? A lot of pleasure. My actions wrung the life out of her body and it felt GOOD. She had tried to harm the thing I hold most dear. I had to restrain myself from spitting on her corpse."

"That doesn't sound like you at all," Liara said.

"How can you continue to love that person?"

"Easily," she said, taking Shepard's hand into her own.

"Then you understand why I never stopped loving you... and now I understand why you had no regrets about Sekat or the others."

"Then let's put that past behind us and pick up with the happily ever after story," Liara said, eagerly.

"I don't exactly remember where we were before we took this detour," Shepard confessed.

"I believe you were telling me a bedtime story about the adventures of the great Kate Shepard and Liara T'Soni."

"Right, you have a mind like a bear trap by the way."

Liara smiled. Sometimes, she honestly did grow tired of Kate's flattery, but she knew that her intelligence was one of the things that Shepard loved most about her. Shepard had once confessed to her that she had wanted to be a scientist when she was growing up, but that her family didn't have a lot of money, and her grades weren't all that good, so she has followed in her parents footsteps and enlisted instead. "I would have been a mediocre scientist anyway," Shepard had said. "I made a C in differential equations." The brave soldier, Kate Shepard, known throughout the galaxy as the hero of the Reaper war, called by some the savior of galactic civilization, actually looked up to _her_ because of how smart she was. Nobody else looked up to her for her mind. Sure, her mother had been proud of her, and other students had been jealous of her, and many people saw her as a valuable asset that they could use, but Shepard just admired her. "Smart is sexy," she had said. And knowing Kate's mind as intimately as she did, knew that she was honestly turned on by her intellect. It was a wonderful thing to be loved for. "A comparative analysis of Prothean and asari circuit design?" She had asked one night back on the Normandy SR1, shortly after the battle of the citadel, when she was reading the titles of Liara's papers. "How much do you know about Electrical Engineering?" "Enough to get that published in the Journal of Paleotechnology," Liara had replied somewhat proudly. "That's hot," Shepard has said. And when they made love that night she could sense just how hot Shepard really thought that was.

Shepard thought for a while and then said, "we need to start at the beginning then, back on the SR1" She cleared her throat. "Well, our tale begins when our dashing heroin, Kate Shepard rescues the beautiful maiden in distress, Liara T'Soni from from the mysterious Prothean bubble, that the ever inquisitive young scientist had managed to get herself thoroughly trapped inside of."

Liara punched Shepard's arm playfully. "Not fair."

"OK, well, you can tell one from your perspective too."

"One where the beautiful woman, from the galaxy's mysterious new species, throws her common sense to the wind at the first sight me, and places her complete trust the daughter of one of her greatest enemies?" Liara continued as if narrating a movie trailer, "The humans have all sorts of rumors about the asari and their supposed powers. Has she been bewitched by the charming archeologist over three times her age? Is it asari pheromones? And what might that sorceress have got up to while she was inside the commander's mind?"

"That's a good one too," Shepard said. "Lot's of suspense. You can leave the ending open to interpretation too. Maybe she really did bewitch the young human."

"I love you, Kate."

"And I love you..." she said, trailing off before playfully adding, "sorceress."

Liara smiled at that and her skin began to crackle with biotic energy.

"How about one more spell before we go back to sleep?" she asked playfully.

"This is definitely one of the best parts of asari pregnancies," Shepard said, as Liara rolled on top of her.

"Oh you like this, do you?"

"I guess I could get used to it... if I have to."

"Such a burden," she said in faux sympathy, rolling back off of Shepard and raising the human up off of the bed with a biotic lift.

"Well I won't burden you with any more of my pregnant needs then," she said, positioning herself under Kate and staring up at her.

"Biotics are cheating," Shepard said.

"That's not what you said last night."

After an uncomfortable pause Shepard asked, "you gonna leave me up here all night?"

"I might."

"I'd like to see you try; you know you can't resist me for that long."

"Too true," she said, lowering Kate gently back down on top of her.

Biotic energy sparked from Liara's lips to Kate's as they kissed and Liara's eyes flashed black.

A thought crept up from the back of her mind,_ I need to remember to thank Aethtya for that guide book._

_I heard that,_ Liara spoke in her mind.

_It's nothing, just a little guide your dad gave me, to make sure I'm ah... servicing you right._

She could feel Liara's sense of mirth mixed with embarrassment at that thought.

_Not the kind of thing most father's give their daughter in laws, _she thought to Kate.

_She's definitely one of a kind. It's a better gift than commandos anyway,_ Shepard thought back.

_You think so?_

_You be the judge, _she thought, running her tongue through the seam at the top of Liara's head.

"Point taken," Liara purred out loud.

_Why won't you meld deeper? _Liara thought to her.

_The book suggested lingering in this state of the meld for a while, to draw out the pleasure out a little._

_You mean teasing me?_

_No, it's just foreplay._

Liara sensed apprehension in her bondmate.

_Are you hiding something from me? _

_Damn your smart... I mean, no mam Madam Shadow Broker._

_More advice from that dirty book?_

_Just play along._

_What do I do?_

_Ask me who sent me to seduce you, to discover your secrets._

_OK, who sent you?_

_No one, mam._

_Then why are you here, in my bed? _Liara asked, starting to get into the role.

_Many human women are attracted to power, Madam Broker._

_Oh, is that so? Somehow, I don't think that's the full story. I have ways of making you talk._

_Like what? _Shepard thought back skeptically.

_Like this. _ She pulled Shepard deeper into the meld, without her cooperation. Shepard began to panic that her secret might be found out, and Liara let up quickly as she felt that panic though their link.

_Hey! Be gentle, _Shepard thought.

_Oh, Goddess, I'm sorry Kate. I didn't mean..._

_It's fine Liara. It's just... this is give and take, you know?_

_Of course. Kate, I would never do anything to hurt you._

_I know you wouldn't. I've got you far too seduced to do that to me, Madam Shadow Broker._

_Such a naughty spy,_ Liara thought, slipping back into the role. _But I guess I can't argue with your results thus far. So you've tied my hands a little... I'm not entirely sure you fully appreciate who your dealing with though. You think this is a victory, but you'll get no secrets from me._

_She's going to make this difficult, _Shepard thought. It was an honest thought, but Liara interpreted it as being in character.

_You didn't think it would be easy to overcome a person like the Shadow Broker, did you? Do you even know what I had to do to ascended to this position?_

Shepard could sense the lingering guilt just behind the surface of Liara's playful words and she moved to steer the conversation away from Liara's role.

_I heard a story that you had some help, from a Spectre friend, _she thought.

_Oh, her? I suppose she may have helped a little. _Liara leaned up and kissed Kate. "Thank you," she said out loud.

_A little? _Shepard thought, indignantly._ I heard she punched an enraged yahg for you. Three times, in fact. All in a crazy, desperate attempt to regain your love._

_I suppose I do have that effect on people, _Liara thought back coyly.

_Is that the case? What ever happened to her anyway?_

_I keep her close by. Very close, s_he thought, running her hands down Shepards back and gripping her bondmate tight.

_Should I be worried if she finds us then?_

_I would be; she's very jealous of me. You'll never find a more devoted bondmate._

_And your devoted to her?_

_Unconditionally._

_Then what are you doing here with me?_

_I don't know... I just can't seem to resist your charms, little spy. You remind me a lot of her._

_What do think she'll do if she catches us?_

_I shudder to think. Suffice it to say it won't be as pleasant as my interrogation techniques. Now, tell me who you work for._

_Or what? _Shepard dared.

_Test me and find out, _Liara taunted back.

_Two can play at that game._

_Oh, you can try... but I'm better._

_I think your enjoying this too much Liara,_ Shepard thought, breaking character.

_What else is in that book? _Liara thought back enthusiastically.

_Let's just stick to one thing at a time._

_Very well, my sexy spy. You ready to give up your secretes then?_

_You first, _Shepard thought.

_Hardly. You haven't even tried to make me._

_Then I'll just have to rectify that mistake._

~.~.~.~

When they awoke the next morning, Shepard rolled over and put her arm around Liara.

"How was last night?" She asked.

"It was fun. But not as much fun as simply melding deeply... with you," was Liara's response.

"So I should disregard Aethyta's book then?"

"I don't know, I'm sure it might have some good advice. But I don't want to be someone else in the bedroom. I want to be us. I bonded with you, not one of Aria's spies."

"Me too. The chapter on role playing is officially out," Shepard said, honestly relieved that she had got everything that she needed, and wouldn't have cause to deceive her wife like that again.

She had eventually persuaded Liara to agree to a compromise during their role playing. She would share one of her secretes, if Liara would share one of hers. Slowly they had let each other into different corners of their minds, the subtle difference being that, while Shepard's spy persona was a complete fabrication, Liara really was the Shadow Broker, and this afforded Shepard a glimpse into some of Liara's actual secrets. Liara had complete trust in her. And she would have told Shepard absolutely anything about the Shadow Broker network. But she would have wanted to know why Shepard wanted this information. And Shepard couldn't bear to tell her what she was planing on trying. She couldn't allow Liara to get her hopes up, unless she knew it was going to work. And Liara would want to be a part of it. She would become obsessed again. Maybe even as obsessed as she was with her revenge against the Shadow Broker. She could never let that happen to Liara again.

She kissed her wife and rolled off of the bed, walking over to her omnitool and pretending to browse her messages. During their role playing she had managed to record Liara's private key on her omnitool. Liara had laughed, thinking that Shepard was merely pretending to be recording all of her secrets to send back to Aria, when she had grabbed the omnitool off of the night stand and begun typing away at it. But the fruits of Shepard's efforts were now present before her.

Liara's private key was mix of both Armali Asari and English characters and numbers. She had successfully familiarized herself with a good bit of the English language since first meeting Shepard. She had a much better understanding of the Germanic tongue, in fact, than Shepard's pathetic grip on Armali Asari. The first time that she told Liara that she loved her in Asari, Liara had burst out laughing. "It sounds like your tongue is asleep," she said. "Hey, I worked hard on that," Shepard had responded. She had leaned over in response and whispered, "It was beautiful words coming from you. I love you very much, also." in her beautiful, Asari accented English. "Show off," Shepard had replied.

Attle, balif, two, K, T, sita, sita, L, eight, zero, jor, C, attle, gental,Y, talif, four, crana, four, har, ete, F

_How the hell can she remember this mess? _Shepard thought, reading characters on her omnitool. _It will be a miracle if I just recorded it correctly._

Seet, jor, W, nine, tanil, D, five, P, crana, remember, 10, 12, 2185

_Remember 10, 12, 2185?_ Shepard thought. _English, North American dating system. The day she __toured the Normandy?_ Why did she want to remember that every time she encrypted a message?

_I became the Shadow Broker to help you,_ Liara's words rang in her mind, granting sudden clarity to date.

Shepard began to tear up.

_But I've got a purpose, helping you. That will keep me honest._

Shepard quickly made her way to the bathroom so that Liara wouldn't catch her with tears in her eyes.

_You're a wonderful woman, Liara_, Shepard thought.


	6. Delivery

**Author's Note:**

**This is it, isn't it? I don't know what to say. All those little blue children will be disappointed I didn't have a speech.**

**On a serious note, I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out.**

**I would be seriously remiss if I didn't point out that I'm HEAVILY indebted in this chapter to a fanfic called "An Anticipated Arrival" by Dr. Jekyl... embarrassingly so. Dr. Jekyl's portrayal of Liara's delivery was so good that it turned me into a damn thief. I blame you, Dr. Jekyl, for writing something that good. My body was acting while my soul was asleep... yeah... that's it... right, Thane? Anyway, you can find An Anticipated Arrival here: fanfiction dot net /s/8115723/1/An_Anticipated_Arrival**

**Be sure to check it out.**

* * *

**Chapter 06: Delivery**

"It's time," Liara said, walking into the study where Shepard was reading.

"What do you mean it's time?" Shepard asked, looking up from her datapad.

"I mean it's time. Our baby is coming."

"Shit," Shepard cursed, jumping up from the chair. "I always thought this was going to happen at night."

"What in the galaxy would make you think that?"

"That's how it always happens in the vids. The husband wakes up in a daze, and runs around like a chicken with it's head cut off," she said, wrapping her arms around Liara's waist and guiding her out of the room.

"That's an unpleasant image," Liara said flatly.

"Sorry... I didn't mean... never mind."

"Kate, I can feel your heart racing," Liara said with alarm. "Please try to calm down. This is much safer than human birth."

"I know, I know. I guess I just absorbed too much from those human vids."

"Its going to be fine. Just take me to the temple," she said reassuringly.

"I'm supposed to be the one comforting you. That's how it works in the vids."

"Forget about the damn vids. Just focus on us," she said, placing her hands on Shepard's temples.

She briefly initiated a meld, letting Shepard feel for herself all of the ways in which her body was telling her that she was about to give birth.

When the meld was finished Shepard scooped her up off her feat and said, "come on, lets go," as she carried Liara down the hall toward the front of the house.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Liara asked.

"What?"

"Our guests."

Shepard gently placed her wife back down on her feat and brought up her omnitool, setting it to the channel they had devoted for this purpose.

"OK, listen up everybody! This is it! I want everybody prepped and ready and out by the skycars in two minutes. You copy that? You have two minutes to be at the skycars from my mark." She looked down at the timepiece in her omnitool. "Mark."

"This isn't a military operation, honey," Liara said, as Shepard lifted her back up into her arms.

But down the hall Aethyta could be heard yelling, "you heard her people, lets move!"

Shepard was shocked to find Wrex already waiting by the skycars when she carried Liara outside.

"Your quick Wrex."

"You think I would miss the birth of your first litter?"

"Technically, there's only one pup in here. I'm not sure it constitutes a litter."

"Placentals." Wrex shook his head. "What ever you call it, I'm not gonna miss it. Get in," he said, opening the door of first skycar for the couple.

"Wrex," Liara said as Shepard carried her over to the door. "Come here."

He bent down next to Liara's face and she leaned up and planted a kiss on the top of his headplate. The tough krogan would have blushed if such a thing were possible for his species.

~.~.~.~

The entourage of skycars came to a stop in front of the seaside temple.

"Damn. Paparazzi," Garrus said, eying the lone photographer camped out across the street from the temple through the skycar's window.

"They knew we were due soon. There's probably someone camped out at every temple in Armali. Is there anything here we can use to cover our faces?" Shepard said, looking around the back seat, her arm never leaving her wife's shoulder.

"Let me handle this," Garrus said, jumping out of the skycar and walking across the street to the photographer. After a few heated words were exchanged, he ripped the recording device out of the young asari's hand and threw it with all his might in the direction of the nearby ocean. It landed on the rocks of the nearby peer, breaking into tiny pieces, most of which trickled down the rocks into the warm waters of Thessia's cerulean seas.

The photographer was clearly furious at this, and her body lit up with biotics for a few seconds before Wrex walked up behind Garrus, at which point she waved her hand dismissively at the two of them and turned away to make a call on her omnitool.

"Nice work Garrus. You handled that with all your usual diplomatic charm," Shepard said, when the two of them had sauntered back across the street.

"I've learned from the best," he replied as Tali grabbed a hold of the back of his shirt and dragged him into the temple.

The temple's interior was dark, much darker than Shepard had imagined an asari temple would be. And it was was humid. Stylized carvings of all sorts of Thessian sea life adorned the walls and ceiling. Doors and columns seemed to be wrapped in tentacles, fins, and scales, and figures of nude asari and infants were interspersed throughout.

"I always imagined that asari temples would be more... open," Tali said, looking around the damp temple in awe.

"Most are," Samara replied. "But this is a temple to the sea. It was carved from the rocky shoreline to serve as a place for our people to give birth."

A young acolyte appeared from behind an elaborate shell shaped doorway. "You must be the T'Soni party," she said. "Liara, if you'll come with me?"

Liara released her hold of Shepard, and put her arm around the acolyte's waist. The two of them turned and began to proceed through main doorway into the back of the temple with Shepard, Aethyta, Natana and Wythea following close behind.

"I'm sorry," the acolyte said, turning to Shepard at the threshold of the doorway. "I will return for you if Kalina requests your presence."

Liara tried to give her bondmate an encouraging smile, but she was beginning to feel discomfort from the early stages of her labor, which she had a hard time masking.

The two large stone doors swung shut behind them and Shepard was left staring at their cool impenetrable surfaces.

Tali walked up to her. "Come on, lets sit down," she said, tugging on Shepard's arm.

"No thanks. I feel like standing," Shepard replied.

Tali decided that it was best to drop it, and went to join Garrus, who was seated on a stone bench.

"Quarians get that way too," she told him, gesturing toward Shepard. "I think most viviparous species do."

"Turians don't, but then we've always been the odd species out when it comes to the rest of the galaxy's biology. Dextro based, metal rich skin, no umbilical cord..."

"And these lovely mandibles," she teased, tugging on one.

~.~.~.~

Several hours passed, during which time Shepard had made only two unsuccessful attempts to sit down and remain seated. She was pacing back and forth through the temple like a father from the vids when Samara called her over to where she was meditating."

"You remind me of my bondmate at the birth of Falere," she said as Shepard sat down next to her.

"I just wish that I could be with her right now," Shepard said, concern evident in her voice.

"You will be, soon enough."

"If the matriarch has decided that she likes me."

"I doubt that she has found any fault in you. What matters now is that you are in an appropriate state to great your daughter when the matriarch returns."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the meditation techniques I taught you on board the Normandy?"

"Of course."

"Then join me in my meditation. It will bring calm and order to your mind. The matriarch will see that and approve."

When Matriarch Kalina entered the room she found Shepard seated next to the justicar, the two of them meditating.

Tali looked up from the game she was playing on her omnitool and gave Garrus a nudge to wake the sleeping turian. Wrex's inscrutable gaze followed the matriarch over to where Shepard was seated.

"It is time," the matriarch announced.

Shepard stood up and faced her.

The matriarch leaned forward, thrusting her cheek toward Shepard and closed her eyes as she moved her head around ever so slightly, sizing her up.

"You are ready," she declared, glancing briefly down at Samara, who had clearly had a hand in this. "Follow me."

Shepard followed the matriarch back into the deeper recesses of the temple, the smell of salt water growing stronger as they neared the birthing chamber.

Entering the chamber, Shepard was immediately struck by the fact that the natural shape of the cavern had been largely left untouched, in contrast to the elaborately hollowed out rooms of the rest of the temple. The warm ocean flowed naturally into this cavern, wound its way around the craggy surface of the floor and pooled into several tub like depressions in the the rock. These pools were the only part of the chamber that had been carved by asari hands and she could see that Liara was sitting in one of them at the far side of the chamber, surrounded by Aethyta and the two little girls standing around the basin.

As she approached Liara, she was aghast to see the hundred yard stare and film of sweet on her bondmate's face. Liara looked as if she didn't know that anybody else was in the room.

"She is operating on instinct now," the matriarch explained. "You will loose yourself in instinct as well, but you must not panic her. She will need you to confidently join her at her level."

Shepard nodded in understanding, her eyes never leaving Liara, sitting breast deep and naked in the water in front of her.

"You may enter the pool," the Matriarch prompted.

Shedding her clothing quickly, she climbed eagerly into the pool, wrapping her arm around Liara's shoulders.

"Liara," she said, but the young asari seemed beyond words.

Liara turned to the person who had seated themselves next to her. The expression of pain in her face brought a sympathetic feeling of pain to Shepard until Liara's face flashed with sudden recognition of the being seated beside her. Her eyes went black immediately and she reached out to Shepard with a ferociousness she had never employed during any of their previous melds. Liara's desperate need to be one with her filled her soul almost immediately and it was startling at first, for the sheer speed at which Liara was trying to draw her down. If Liara wasn't someone that she trusted implicitly, it would have been terrifying.

_Bondmate!_ It was the only thing even approaching a coherent thought that she received from her, and it was summoned at considerable mental effort. It was as if Liara had called her name, but she was well beyond words. It was more a feeling, a plea, a hunger for her bondmate, the father of her child.

_I love you, I'm here, I'm yours,_ were the thoughts that Shepard kept repeating as she sank deeper into the meld until she found that she was so wrapped up in Liara that she too was now beyond words. The last rational thought she had was a realization that Liara had grunted in an animal like approval at her litany.

What followed was something that Kate had never experienced with Liara before.

The sexual aspect of the meld wasn't present, but the platonic bliss that always accompanied the meld clearly was. There was pain too, she was giving birth, but the bliss of being so integral a part of someone so loved was opiate enough. She had plenty of experience with Liara's instincts before, during the height of sexual passion, the rational part of the mind receded, as it was wont to do. But Liara's keen intellect, her bright intelligence, had always been a defining feature, even if it had moved into the background. Now, however, it was gone. What was left was something primitive and strong, a driving, throbbing, pounding instinct. Her body knew what to do, even if she could never explain why. There could be no doubts. She felt another wave of the pounding instinct crash over her, prompting Liara to do something with her mind. Later, when she had recovered the capacity to think rationally, she would describe it as the mental equivalent of a possessive bite. And riding the same crashing wave of instinct she returned the mental bite with equal ferocity. If words had been permitted, the message would have been clear, "You're mine and mine alone," they were saying to each other in the language of animal instinct.

"Embrace eternity," those were the words that Liara had used during their early melds, to prepare Kate for what was about to come. And there was, indeed, an aspect of timeless eternity in the meld. One mind touches the other, and then it sees its reflection in that other mind, like a hall of mirrors endlessly reflecting each other. But the endless corridor of mirrors eventually turns in on itself, asymptotically collapses into a singularity, where there is only _one_ mind, even if there are still _two_ bodies desperately trying to become one.

And they had reached that state, no separation, no difference, no Liara, no Kate. And yet there were still two minds here. One was Kate/Liara and the other was a separate entity, not lost in the meld, but present all the same. It wasn't consumed in the irrational instinct driven moment of the birth like she was, but it lacked rational thought nonetheless. It was confused, and a little bit scared, but comforted by the love that that she was sending it. And she would protect it, protect it against anything; nothing threatening could be allowed to come near it. But first, she had to PUSH, and one of her bodies was doing just that for her; it pushed without any need to be commanded. There seemed to be no time here, just pushing and pushing and pushing, but eventually that other mind began to experience unfathomable things, experiences beyond its limited conception, but more familiar to the ken of Liara/Kate. There was so much light, but she sent it reassurances that these things were OK, these things would become part of her life now, and everything was alright. Suddenly something lifted it out of the wetness and into the dry open air and it filled its lungs for the first time, but it was OK, she was still near.

She was vaguely aware of the commotion in the room as the meld began to loosen, slowly at first, and then with greater speed as Kate sensed Liara's overwhelming desire to see her baby, and to hold her.

The matriarch handed Benezia to Liara as the last wisps of the meld were beginning to fade. Liara's mind seemed to be reasserting itself, finding coherence. Kate didn't understand it, but it seemed like she was lagging behind. She could hardly make out what was happening in the world around her beyond Liara and Benezia, and those two looked positively beatific to her, like the Madonna and Child painted in blue.

"This is... This is..." She struggled, failing to find the words that would describe the scene.

"The bondmate euphoria!" Natana whispered excitedly to Wythia. The matriarch nodded her head at the two young girls in confirmation.

Shepard didn't understand what was being said. She felt light, light like she didn't have any weight at all. The scene of her beautiful wife and bondmate and their tiny daughter, wrapped up in her arms, filled her field of view. Staring for what seemed like an eternity, her mind struggled to put her thoughts into words, and found a little more success this time.

"Thank you for being so perfect," was the best that she could manage in her high.

Aethyta rolled her eyes.

The Kalina leaned down and kissed Liara on her forehead. "You chose well, Liara T'Soni." She spoke coolly before exiting the room, Aethyta and the two young girls close behind.

After a few moments Liara spoke, "The matriarch just complimented you."

"Huh?" Shepard responded still obviously in a daze.

"She's impressed by your devotion. The bondmate euphoria isn't experienced by every bondmate. Sometimes non-asari bondmates don't feel as connected to their offspring as most asari fathers. They may be upset that they didn't make a genetic contribution, or they might not be as loving a parent as they thought they would be. Even a tiny subconscious hesitation will impede the euphoria."

"How could anyone not love this?" Shepard asked, still clearly intoxicated, her eyes having never left the tiny blue person resting so calmly in Liara's arms.

Liara closed her eyes for a brief moment and allowed herself to soak in the bliss she was experiencing. Her child, her bondmate... Kate had experienced the euphoria.

Opening her eyes she spoke, "Thank you Kate... for being so perfect."

Shepard failed to understand the reciprocation in those words. She was too caught up in the intoxication of the bondmate euphoria to understand. She was simply happy to hear such things coming from one of the two most important beings in her existence.

~.~.~.~

When Shepard's euphoria had finally abated, she got dressed and took little Benezia out to greet her witnesses, while Liara and Kalina prepared Liara to get back up on her feet.

"There's the new little warrior," Wrex said, being first to spot Shepard walking out of the stone doors and running up to her with his distinctive krogan jog. "Look at her; you placentals sure do make em tender. But don't worry, she'll grow up into a strong warrior with both of your genes."

"Actually, she only really has Liara's genes," Shepard said.

"Good enough," he grunted. "How long before she'll be ready for the rite?"

"The rite?" Shepard asked.

"I made you an honorary krogran. She's half krogan. You can't deny her the rite," he said, drawing a line with this arm.

"She's actually five eights krogan," Aethya corrected. "Liara is a quarter krogan."

"Even better," he said cheerfully.

"It will be quite some time yet," Shepard said. "Asari mature slowly."

_At least I've got a few decades to come up with a reason to bow out of this_, Shepard thought.

"Can we see her, Shepard," Tali asked enthusiastically.

"Of course," Shepard said, gently pushing aside Wrex, who's massive body had been hogging all of the room around the baby.

"Oh she's so adorable. Her crest is so tiny," Tali said.

"Her crest will grow in latter," Shepard explained. "It would interfere with the birth if it was fully grown at delivery. Do you want to hold her?"

"Please."

"This your aunt Tali, Nezzy," Shepard said, handing her over to Tali. "You're very lucky to have a quarian aunt. Quarians are very loyal to their families."

"Hello little Nezzy," Tali said when she finally had her in her arms. "I'm your aunty Tali." Nezzy seemed to be staring intently at her own reflection in Tali's faceplate.

"I think someone likes you," Garrus said.

"Look at her Garrus. Doesn't she make you want one just liker her?" Tali said.

Garrus's mandibles twitched. "She is pretty cute," he conceded, all hint of his usual bravado gone from his voice.

"Congratulations, Shepard," Samara said, placing her hand on Shepard's shoulder and smiling as brightly as Shepard had ever seen her smile.

"Thank you, Samara," Shepard said, leaning over and kissing her on the side of her cheek.

She blushed and unconsciously moved her hand up to touch the spot where Shepard had kissed her.

_I wonder if shouldn't have done that,_ Shepard thought. _That might be the most intimate thing someone has done to her in hundreds of years._

"Is nobody going to let me hold my Granddaughter?" Aethtya asked in a loud voice.

Tali passed Benezia to her.

"So, I guess I'm your Granddad, kid. What do you think of that?"

Nezzy didn't seem to think much of it, as she was beginning to close her eyes.

"You know, Liara and I would like you to be in our lives more, Dad," Shepard said to her.

"What the hell... oh... I mean heck for," she said, curtailing her profanity in front of Benezia.

"Your Liara's dad, and now your Nezzy's grandpa. You don't have to watch Liara, or now... us... from afar anymore. And besides, can you say no to that face?"

"I was never able to say no to her namesake," Aethyta said, her eyes watering. "Your grandma would be very proud of you Nezzy," she said softly, kissing the top of Nezzy's head and for the first time noticing that the blanket that Nezzy was wrapped in was yellow.

A tear rolled down her cheek and she handed Nezzy back to Kate.

"Excuse me," she said, turning away from everybody, wiping the tear from her face and stiffening her spine as she took a deep breath.

Shepard felt delighted to have her child back in her arms. "I kind of think of myself as being your mother, Nezzy, but since you're asari that makes me your dad. It's going to take some getting used to."

Shepard turned back to Garrus and Tali.

"In human tradition we choose another couple to be what we call a child's godparents. It means that if something were to happen to Liara and myself, the godparents would raise Nezzy..."

"We would be honored," Tali blurted out excitedly, without consulting Garrus.

"We would raise her as one of our own," Garrus added.

"It's a big commitment," Shepard said, "She won't be considered to be an adult until very near the end of your lifetimes."

Tali looked up at Garrus, who nodded his head.

"We still accept," Tali said.

"Can I hold her too?" Natana asked.

"Sure, but be careful with her," Shepard replied.

She showed Natana how to hold the baby and Natana bent down so that Wythea could get a good look at her before handing her back up to Shepard.

"Well, your the only one here who hasn't held her," She said, turning toward Samara. "I mean, aside from the giant krogan and spiky turian."

Samara accepted the child from her.

"Thank you, Shepard. It's been... a very long time since I've done this." Her face became very thoughtful as she stared down at Benezia. "I hope that she finds more peace than my daughters have," she said solemnly after a pause.

"Me too," Shepard whispered.

"Oh," she said, looking up at Shepard, "I didn't mean to frighten you. Your bondmate may be... pureblood, if you will excuse the term, but with you as her mate it is extremely unlikely that she will be..." She trailed off.

"I know," Shepard said gently.

Samara took one more look back down at Nezzy before handing her back to Shepard.

"The Goddess has blessed you," she said.

"I'd like to think so."

"Perhaps it is not to much to hope that the Goddess will one day place me under the Third Oath of Subsumation with you again, as we discussed over the vidcom."

"There must be some other excuse you can find to visit Falere."

"Perhaps I will... reconsider my understanding of the code. It is a justicar's duty to meditate on the code's meaning."

"Then it sounds like you would be neglecting your duty if you didn't," Shepard said, smiling at her.

She nodded and returned the smile.

~.~.~.~

When the matriarch had deemed Liara to have sufficiently recovered from the birth, she performed one last check of Nezzy before declaring her to be perfectly healthy, and releasing them both from her custody.

As the entourage exited the temple, they were accosted by a rowdy mob of reporters, journalists and assorted paparazzi. Noise, questions, and flashes flooded in from every direction before Wrex pressed forward and let out a blood curdling roar that stunned the entire crowd, causing many to step backward, nearly falling over one another. Garrus shooed away the stragglers that were left in the short distance between the temple and the skycars.

"Excuse me, pardon us, coming through, make way for my godchild!" he shouted, as he pushed them out of Kate and Liara's way.

Tali noticed one particular reporter, who seemed to be unfazed by the krogan's battle cry, trying to push her way through the crowd toward the couple. She positioned herself between the purple asari and Liara, blocking the reporter's path.

"I have a shotgun," she said, when the reporter was face to face with her.

The reporter's eyes widened at the thinly veiled threat. After everything she had just seen, she was inclined to believe that this quarian did, in fact, have a shotgun.

Tali continued to stand in the reporter's path for several seconds before turning around and entering the skycar. She was the last one in, but before she closed the door she set her combat drone to stun mode and let it loose into the crowd of paparazzi.

"Go for the optics Chiktikka!" she shouted before closing the door.

Garrus looked over at her with an expression of smug satisfaction.

"Nobody's faster than Chiktikka vas Paus," she said to him, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"I think I remember why I fell in love with you."

"Love? It's all about you body, Vakarian," she said, stroking the side of his face.

"I can live with that," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"Let's make our own baby tonight," she said to him.

"I hate to break this to you, but you do know that's impossible, right?"

"That can't stop us from trying real hard."

* * *

**Update:**

**OK, here's the deal. I've updated this story with some spelling and grammar corrections thoughtfully provided by one of my readers. Pretty embarrassing stuff. I'm surprised that you guys stuck with me and didn't write me off as a mouth breathing Cretan!**

**I _am_ still working on this story! I apologize for how long it's taking. I want to thank everyone for the wonderful feedback I have received. It seems a number of you really liked it! Awesome. Maybe I'll have something up by the end of the month.**


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